It’s safe to claim that you’ve never attended a performance like Emma Stone’s in Poor Things. She stars as Bella Baxter, an adult woman with the mentality of a child who embarks on a voyage of self-discovery through fanciful Victorian-era steampunk cityscapes in this adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel from New Greek Weird filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos.
It’s a masterclass in perfectly tuned humor and goofy wordplay, all in service of convincing, genuine character growth. It’s also quite funny.
Critics have been tripping over themselves looking for superlatives. “Stone goes for bawdy, boundary-pushing broke.” “Entirely astounding.” “A hilarious, beyond-next-level performance. Despite playing in only 580 locations, PoorThings made $1.8 million on its sixth limited three-day weekend at the Boxoffice. The reviewers’ favorite experienced just a –7.5 % decline from the previous weekend, despite losing -170 theatres on Friday and being the oldest picture in the Top 10.
“Several writers have used the term “fearless” as a thinly veiled shorthand for the type of uninhibited nudity and sexual material that most Hollywood performers avoid nowadays. It will almost probably earn the actor his fourth Academy Award nomination.
