The Stream: It feels too long, and the story gets loses its way in the latter half.

The Big Screen: Emma Stone’s excellent, go for broke performance and incredible costumes, production design, and effects.

The Final Bill: The individual elements of Poor Things are greater than the sum of its parts despite an intriguing movie overall.

– Trip Fontaine
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Writers: Tony McNamara based on a novel by Alasdair Gray
Stars: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Mark Ruffalo,
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Rating: R for strong and pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity, disturbing material, gore, and language
Runtime: 2 hours 16 minutes
Production Companies: Element Pictures, Searchlight Pictures, Film4, TSG Entertainment
Platform: In theaters December 22, 2023
Notable Trailers: All of Us Strangers, Mean Girls, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Night Swim

What’s up, Streamers! The 81st Golden Globe Awards were held this past Sunday celebrating all of glamour and prestige of Hollywood. Ain’t life grand! Anyway, you may have heard that Oppenheimer dominated the awards winning 5 statues, but the subject of this review also did well by winning Best Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. Let’s discuss this avant-garde, Frankenstein story, Poor Things, starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo.

Poor Things is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who previously found success with The Favourite and The Lobster. Taking place in a fantasized Victorian London, Lanthimos brings his off-kilter sensibility to the story about Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a child-like woman, who is the ward and creation of Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Bella is the product of an experiment of Godwin’s. She hits all the developmental milestones as if she were an infant, but her development begins to progress at a rapid pace. As Bella gains more intelligence, she desires to explore the world outside of the confines of Godwin’s restrictions. She has encounters with a myriad of characters with their own agendas like Godwin’s assistant, Max McCandles (Ramy Youseff), and mischievous lawyer, Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo). World traveling and scandalously sexual hijinks ensue.

Wow! Poor Things is an interesting movie, very strange. It won in the comedy categories at the Golden Globes, but it is really a dark, sci-fi, fantasy movie with comedic elements. Don’t go into this movie expecting to roll in the aisles with laughter. Yes, there are some humorous moments, but it is definitely not your traditional comedy. It is, however, an intelligent and endlessly watchable movie. It pushes themes of feminism, personhood, parenting and the ethics of science to the forefront. It can be quite uncomfortable at times. While it is clever, it is not very emotionally engaging, which left me slightly disappointed. Beyond that, at over 2 hours, it feels long. There are definitely 20-minutes or so that could have been edited down, which would have benefitted the movie overall.

On the positive notes, Emma Stone proves why she is not only a movie star but also an acclaimed actress. Bella could not have been an easy role to play, and Stone makes it seem so natural. She’s very charming as Bella grows and develops. The burgeoning intelligence of the character is hinted at as it emerges. Her physicality and comedic timing are great. Dafoe, Youseff and Ruffalo each have great moments in the movie. Ruffalo gets to play the outsized, scenery-chewing character with great lines. He throws himself into the character and matches Stone beat for beat. I really like Ramy Youseff as the sweet, sensitive Max McCandles. He holds his own against these more seasoned actors. More than just the acting, the movie looks incredible. The costumes! The sets! The colors! The visual effects! This production is awesome to look at and is a feast for the eyes. There are so many great elements to the movie. I only wish the story that becomes unwieldy and cold were tighter and had more of an emotional arc that would more fully engage the audience.

Ultimately, Poor Things is good, but it could have been great. It is too long, and the story doesn’t have an emotional element to really hook the audience. The production looks amazing and the cast is very good. In particular, Emma Stone gives an excellent, must-see performance. Since I left the theater a bit disappointed overall, I can only suggest a matinee for this one, but it is worthy of seeing on the big screen if you can find it playing near you. Have a bowl of popcorn.