What's the Tomatometer?

® RT Critics

Search movies, TV, actors, more...  MOVIES TV SHOWS NEWS TICKETS & SHOWTIMES

TRENDING ON RT One Piece The Equalizer 3 The Killer Ahsoka Past Lives

NEWS MOVIE & TV NEWS

FEATURED ON RT
POOR THINGS FIRST REVIEWS: A FLAWLESS EMMA STONE POWERS
A YORGOS LANTHIMOS MASTERPIECE
CRITICS ON HAND FOR THE FILM'S VENICE PREMIERE SAY IT'S NOT ONLY LANTHIMOS' MOST
ENTERTAINING AND ACCESSIBLE FILM YET, BUT EMMA STONE'S DAZZLING PHYSICAL
PERFORMANCE IS ALSO THE BEST WE'VE EVER SEEN HER.
by Christopher Campbell | September 1, 2023 |  0 Comments

TV Premiere Dates 2023

September 1, 2023

TAGGED AS: FIRST REVIEWS, MOVIES, VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

The 5 Most Anticipated Movies

of September
September 1, 2023

Special Ops: Lioness Finale

Exclusive Sneak Peek: ‘Execute
the Mission’
September 1, 2023

Poor Things, the latest from The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos, just premiered at the Venice Film
Festival, where it has received nothing but rave reviews. Critics are especially praising the performance by
Emma Stone, who plays a reanimated woman navigating the world during the Victorian era. The first
reviews also highlight what is sure to be the other talking point with Poor Things: the extreme levels of
graphic sex and nudity. Surprisingly, this is also being celebrated for being Lanthimos’ most crowd-
pleasing entertainment. 60 Best Concert Movies of All
Time
Here’s what critics are saying about Poor Things: September 1, 2023

More Featured on RT >

IS THIS ANOTHER MASTERPIECE FROM LANTHIMOS?
TOP HEADLINES
“He has out-weirded himself with Poor Things.” – Nicholas Barber, BBC.com • 60 Best Concert Movies of All Time
–
“There’s strange, and then there’s the nonstop bonkers brilliance of Poor Things.” – David
• Netflix’s 100 Best Movies Right Now
(September 2023)
Rooney, Hollywood Reporter –
• 100 Best Netflix Series To Watch Right
Now (September 2023)
COULD IT BE HIS BEST FILM YET? –
• Worst Blockbusters of All Time Ranked
“Poor Things is the best film of Lanthimos’ career and already feels like an instant –
classic.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire • Summer Movie Scorecard 2023
–
“Poor Things is flawless…the crowning achievement of Lanthimos’s career.” – Serena • 30 Most Popular Movies Right Now:
Seghedoni, Loud and Clear Reviews What to Watch In Theaters and
Streaming
“Poor Things is Yorgos Lanthimos’s most ambitious and captivating swing yet.” – Lex –
Briscuso, Film School Rejects More Top Headlines >

WILL MOST MOVIEGOERS FIND IT ENTERTAINING?

“It is rare that something so thoughtful o ers an audience such a good time.” – Donald
Clarke, Irish Times

“It is a hugely entertaining film.” – Jonathan Romney, Screen International

“Poor Things is an insanely enjoyable fairy tale that creates not just one, but multiple
distinctive worlds — each of them a beguiling artwork — peopled by memorable
characters fleshed out by a first-rate cast.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“Everything in it – every frame, every image, every joke, every performance – gets a gasp
of excitement.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“Poor Things takes a minute to adjust to… but it’s easy to get hooked on what Lanthimos
is building given the sheer entertainment of the film’s well-cra ed narrative.” – Ben
Rolph, AwardsWatch

IS IT EMOTIONALLY SATISFYING AS WELL?

“Despite occasional unease, Poor Things ultimately packs an emotional kick.” – Geo rey
Macnab, Independent

“It’s oddly moving in its fervor and abundance.” – Guy Lodge, Variety

“It’s a surprise that Lanthimos’s new film Poor Things takes a long, strange trip toward
something like sweetness.” – Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

“This is a sweeter film than we have come to expect from Lanthimos.” – Hannah Strong,
Little White Lies

WILL IT ALSO DIVIDE AUDIENCES?

“The excessive nature of the film will undoubtedly cause some division with those who
watch, but ultimately it’s what we’ve come to expect from Lanthimos, albeit taking a
further step in the direction of the obscene.” – Ben Rolph, AwardsWatch

“It may prove too subversive and oddball for more mainstream tastes.” – Geo rey
Macnab, Independent

“Poor Things, with its scarred flesh and bared genitals, its anatomy-textbook dissections
and vivisectional set pieces, may be the definition of A Movie Not for Everyone.” – Justin
Chang, Los Angeles Times

“You may find Poor Things o -puttingly over-the-top and self-indulgent.” – Nicholas
Barber, BBC.com

JUST HOW GRAPHIC DOES IT GET?

“The raunchiest movie you’re likely to see all year.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

“Poor Things may just be one of the raunchiest, horny films in a long time.” – Ben Rolph,
AwardsWatch

“One of the most sexually forthright movies ever released under the Disney banner.” –
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

“The film’s sex scenes, it should be said, are unrestrained and varied.” – Jonathan
Romney, Screen International

“The film must contain more sex than the last 10 years of Hollywood’s output combined.”
– Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph

IS THE FILM FUNNY?

“Poor Things is a riot. McNamara’s screenplay is littered with laughs and quotable
dialogue.” – Jane Crowther, Total Film

“Deliciously funny… Jokes on eunuchs, mutilation, cocaine, and erections are amusingly
sprinkled throughout Lanthimos’ epic” – Rafaela Sales Ross, The Playlist

“Lanthimos definitely wants to make us laugh… though the 140-minute film does begin
to wear out its welcome in the last third, when the jokes have mostly all been made
before.” – Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

IS IT REMINISCENT OF ANOTHER FILMMAKER?

“There’s a kinship here with the films of Terry Gilliam.” – David Rooney, Hollywood
Reporter

“The elaborate, computer-generated exteriors that suggest Terry Gilliam when he leans
too far into his steampunk obsessions.” – Donald Clarke, Irish Times

“Imagine a Terry Gilliam film multiplied by a Wes Anderson film and you’ll have some
idea of the lavish freakishness in store.” – Nicholas Barber, BBC.com

“Lanthimos rekindles memories of the work of Wes Anderson, or old Georges Melies
silent films at their most artificial.” – Geo rey Macnab, Independent

HOW IS EMMA STONE IN IT?

“Astonishing.” – Guy Lodge, Variety

“A tour de force performance.” – Hannah Strong, Little White Lies

“Emma Stone is exceptional. This feels like the role that she was born to play, as she
delivers a tour-de-force of a performance with impressive physical acting and emotional
commitment to the character.” – Serena Seghedoni, Loud and Clear Reviews

“Stone is utterly riveting as Bella, a role she was undoubtedly born to play… Her physical
performance in this film is unmatched in recent memory.” – Lex Briscuso, Film School
Rejects

“Emma Stone has never been better.” – Donald Clarke, Irish Times

“A dazzling performance by Emma Stone – if anything, outdoing her revelatory turn in

The Favourite.” – Jonathan Romney, Screen International

“One of the more extraordinary performances of her career and certainly the most
audacious.” – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

“A performance that pushes both her, and us, beyond any comfort zone.” – Jane
Crowther, Total Film

“It’s wildly smart, deeply thought-through work, unlike anything you’ve seen in years.” –
Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph

“She takes it to the next career level, or the level beyond the next level.” – Peter
Bradshaw, Guardian

IS SHE FUNNY HERE?

“Stone’s gi for physical comedy has never been tapped to this extent.” – David Rooney,
Hollywood Reporter

“She tackles grand-scale physical comedy with gusto.” – Guy Lodge, Variety

“Stone’s talent for physical comedy and ability to deliver wordy, ludicrous dialogue with
complete sincerity imbues Bella with an innocence that quickly evolves into
resoluteness.” – Hannah Strong, Little White Lies

“Delightfully o -the-rails… proof that whatever cracked frequency she and Lanthimos are
riding on, their alchemy is the real deal.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

“Stone sees in Bella the perfect opportunity to marry the comedic talent that solidified
her early career in American teenage comedies to the dramatic skills that have firmly
placed her as one of the most critically acclaimed actresses of her generation.” – Rafaela
Sales Ross, The Playlist

HOW DOES THE FILM LOOK?

“DP Robbie Ryan frames the world quite o en with a fish-eye lens, a device that
occasionally tripped him up on The Favourite but here suits the material as seen from the
wonder-struck point of view of Bella’s questing self.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

“Robbie Ryan’s celluloid-shot images draw surprises and subtle depths out of the visual
inventions in a film of extraordinary texture, in which every conceivable surface and
property in the design, by James Price and Shona Heath, has its own arresting aesthetic
finish.” – Jonathan Romney, Screen International

“James Price and Shona Heath’s sets are marvels of invention that treat the idea of
period as a sandbox in which to run riot with a full range of architectural and decorative
styles.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“Holly Waddington’s baroque, o en color-coded costumes are to die for.” – Donald

Clarke, Irish Times

ARE THERE ANY OTHER MAJOR CRITICISMS?

“Its relentless style risks exhaustion. As do a few moments of corny indulgence.” –

Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

“There is a sense of a successful project striving a little too hard for a cheap wow.” –
Donald Clarke, Irish Times

Poor Things premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2023 and opens in
theaters on December 8, 2023.

Thumbnail image by Searchlight Pictures

On an Apple device? Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Apple News.

RELATED NEWS

TV Premiere Dates 2023 The 5 Most Anticipated 60 Best Concert Movies of

Movies of September All Time

More Related News

MORE NEWS

TV Premiere Dates 2023 The 5 Most Anticipated Special Ops: Lioness Finale
Movies of September Exclusive Sneak Peek:
‘Execute the Mission’

More News

Help Critic Submission FOLLOW US

About Rotten Tomatoes Licensing
What's the Tomatometer®? Advertise
Careers

Copyright © Fandango. All rights reserved. V3.1

Privacy Policy | Terms and Policies | Cookie Preferences | California Notice | Ad Choices | Accessibility