Brought to us by Yorgos Lanthimos I knew that Poor Things was going to be a bit on the weird side. If you watch the trailer for Poor Things and think that it may be too weird for you, well the actual movie is even weirder than the trailer lets on. I had a lot of fun with this, but I can see this being a movie that is a real acquired taste and if someone told me they hated it, I sure as heck would not argue with them about it.
How to Download Poor Things
Poor Things was released on December 8, 2023. You can expect to be able to download or stream it from Hulu about two months later. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and check the current availability.
The Movie Review: A Dark Comedy with a Sci-Fi Twist
I swear that Emma Stone just gets more and more talented with each role that she takes. I first saw her in Superbad and she has just gone from strength to strength. Emma Stone may already be an Oscar winner, but I can see her role here as Bella Baxter at the very least getting her a nomination. She completely gives everything she has to this role and as a result, you buy completely into her character.
So what is Poor Things about? It is a kind of hard movie to describe, but it is a dark comedy with a bit of a sci-fi twist. Think of a movie like Frankenstein or even Tim Burton’s Frankweenie and you are getting on the right track, but that is just the most basic of what we have going on here!
Unique Characters and Their Quirky Journeys
Willen Dafoe plays the role of a man called Dr. Godwin Baxter or God for short! Dr. Baxter is like a mad scientist and he has managed to bring this woman (Bella) back from the dead. Now the trailers make this very clear, but the twist of Poor Things is actually very, very clever.
You see, poor Bella was pregnant when she died and Dr. Baxter being the mad scientist that he is put the brain of the baby into Bella! We basically follow Bella in her adult body, but with her baby brain as she learns about the world around her. As I said, Emma Stone is amazing in this role and she sells it so incredibly well.
Another important character to make note of is Duncan Wedderburn who is played by Mark Ruffalo. Mark Ruffalo is such a great actor and as much as I love him as Bruce Banner in the MCU, it is great when he gets to do stuff like this. Duncan is infatuated with Bella and he sees her as some kind of toy that he can parade around.
The Edgy and Artistic Flair of Poor Things
While it all starts off well, Duncan starts to think that Bella is some kind of psycho and things take a rather crazy turn! I do not want to go into too many details as Poor Things is the kind of movie that you have to just see and experience for yourself to see what a wild ride it is.
One thing I will warn you about is that there is a good reason that this movie is rated r! It is full of graphic sex and violence, some of the most insane stuff I have seen in a movie in quite some time. However, it all fits with the tone and style of the movie. Speaking of “style” I love the way the movie looks, the strange camera angles and weird cuts all help pull you into this very odd world.
The Bottom Line
While I loved Poor Things, it is a tricky movie to recommend. If you have seen some of the other stuff that Yorgos Lanthimos has done such as Lobster and enjoyed it, give this a shot. If you found the trailer to be kind of weird and freaky, you might want to give this a miss or just wait for it to hit streaming, you do not want to be freaking out in the theatre!
