Do you ever get the feeling that you are the only person in the theater who's enjoying what is on the screen? That was how I felt watching Bug.
I was drawn into this twisted tale of two fractured people who feed each other's paranoia-fueled delusions in an endless feedback loop of fear and love. While I was becoming involved in what was happening between them, there were people snickering, and oft times outright laughing.
Now, don't get me wrong, I can actually see where they are coming from. Bug is the kind of movie that almost requires you to buy in, completely giving yourself over to the film. Much like The Blair Witch Project, this movie is not a passive experience; if you sit there and watch it you will likely be disappointed, but the moment you allow yourself to become invested, it is like flipping a switch and it becomes one freaky thrill ride.
We meet Agnes (Ashley Judd); she works at a lesbian bar and lives out of a motel. She is a woman who lives in fear and is highly suspicious of anyone she meets, preferring to be in a more controlled environment which only includes her friend, RC (Lynn Collins). She has a violent ex-husband (Harry Connick Jr.) who has just gotten out on parole and comes home, uninvited and unwanted.
Meanwhile, RC brings over a stray guy from the bar. He has this sad look about him, a look that the audience will recognize to be filled with menace. The normally trepidatious Agnes welcomes him in and invites him to stay. The man is named Peter Evans (Michael Shannon), and in Agnes he has found a kindred spirit. They are both living somewhat on the fringe, both with a lifetime of baggage, baggage that connects them on a deeper level than that of recent acquaintances, or even friends.
As the friendship grows by leaps and bounds in a very short period of time, Peter confides the secrets of his past. He pours out these paranoid delusions of being experimented on by the government and how he is being attacked by bugs that live beneath his skin. Before you know it, Agnes has been reeled in by his paranoid charms, and the two are set on a course of self-destruction from which it may not be possible to escape.
Bug is based on a stage play by Tracy Letts, who also wrote the screenplay. It is a lean, tension-filled work that keeps its setting limited, almost entirely set inside the motel room. It builds its tension slowly. Awkward conversation between the two damaged leads builds to their frantic, panic-filled monologues of paraoid conspiracy theories that make little real sense to us, but are frightening nonetheless. To the two of them, it is perfectly sound logic. The screenplay really builds from the moment the two meet to the frenzied madness where they end up. Every step taken is borne organically out of their conversations, Peter's ever-increasing bug talk to Agnes eating it up.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - betty witkowski
when did the movie "bug" appear on tv and is it on video?
2 - Josh Dawson
The movie "Bug", by William Friedkin, was by far one of the most intense psycological thrillers I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. It truly does make you question almost everything. It really gets inside you and makes you feel a certain sense of paranoia. I very much liked the symbol of the "bugs" themselves. The idea that the modern, everyday american can know so little but know everything at the same time, the idea that they question everything and believe so much of nothing at all. The idea of complete paranoia, thats the symbol of the bugs. It gets inside you, makes you feel uneasy, makes you almost crazy, it can even make you kil yourself. This is by far, one of the most inspiring films ever made. To many others it may be just stupid but thats only because they do not understand it truly. Thats my thought on the movie.
3 - Steve C.
...this movie is not a passive experience; if you sit there and watch it you will likely be disappointed, but the moment you allow yourself to become invested, it is like flipping a switch and it becomes one freaky thrill ride.
Couldn't have said it better. Solid review, dude.
4 - Tee
That movie was WACK!!!!
5 - Michelle
Don't waste your money! This movie was a total disappointment. Maybe I didn't "invest" myself into the action that was taking place on the screen. Maybe I was too distracted by the subtle references to Ashley Judd's sexuality (straight, bi-, gay?) or her 15 ft. boob that continually flashed on the screen during the sex scene. I was disgusted by the idea that this movie was billed as a thriller, only to be bored out of my mind. The entire theater's laughter and jeers at the completion of this mindless tale solidified my personal opinion. Absolute crap!
6 - Chris Beaumont
Let me get this straight, you need the audience to inform you that your opinion is right? I don't care if you don't like the movie, but don't use others to validate your opinion, think for yourself.
7 - Joe
this movie was the worst movie i have ever seen in my entire life. Dont waste your time or money even seeing this unless you want to laugh at how horrible it is.
8 - Paul Hoffman
This is absolutely the stupidist and worst movie I have ever seen!
9 - Bunni3
I would have to say "BUG",is a movie to which you have your own opinion,don't listen to others reviews,you may see it in a different light.Most have their conception that because it was called bug(emphasis on the bug)you would actually see more....whats the word????BUGS!.Instead of two or three glimpses tops!
On the other hand,I would have to agree with Josh Dawson,if you get the analytical concept of the movie,its a great movie,but most fail to think on that level.
10 - Shelly
Is this movie about the devastating effects of meth? I hope it's meant to symbolize the journey from trashy to downright scum...if not, it is ridiculous.
11 - Mike
I could not wait for this movie to end. It was torture. I hope this directed never gets to make a movie again.
12 - Liz
This movie was as bad as 23. So happy I didnt waste my money in the theatre...
13 - Dave
I'm not sure if I liked this movie or not. I still couldn't tell if this was about drug induced paranoid delusions, or if this was actually government experiment portrayed by the doctor who steps in towards the end. It wasn't terrible by all means, just maybe a little to far out there for me to understand entirely.
14 - Erica009
The movie wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I'd expected. The previews made it out to be some kind of sci-fi ...bug movie. But yeah, the movie seemed kind of ambiguous..is it about paranoia, or drugs? I felt like we didn't get enough out of Ashley Judd's character to fully understand the blossoming relationship between Peter and Agnes, so it comes off as a bit hurried and not so much romantic as desperate and weird. Not only that, but to some people it might've seemed obvious that Peter was a whack job, but up until the end credits I was wondering if he was telling the truth or if he was just paranoid...I don't really like movies with such vague undertones. And who was Dr.Sweet? wtf, where did this guy come from, who was he? We never found out if he was there to help or harm. All we saw was him come in and try to get Peter and then get viciously stabbed. The movie wasn't detailed enough for me
15 - Ashley
My boyfriend and I watched this movie, I must admit. The first 30 minutes into the movie I was disappointed because it seemed like it was dragging forever to get to the "Bugs" when in the end it was all about the journey of paranoia.
The only thing I liked about the movie was I could tell it was based off a play, because the director did a great job, cutting scenes if you sit there and really watch how the movie was made its really interesting in a "drama" set mind.
Other than that, the movie was quite a disappointment. I have to say. But literature and movies are always one's opinion!
16 - Ron
I think the people who didn't like this flick are the type that need everything neat and clean and logical and who need their movies delivered with an ending that ties everything together, leaving nothing to question or ponder. I really liked this movie. Yea, it's a bit slow developing, but Judd and Shannon do absolutly splendid jobs playing their parts. I can only conclude, and I think the writer and director left us some hints, that Agnes had her son taken away by the authorities because he was endangered by Agnes's condition. He may have been placed with either her sister or a relative of Goss's, we are left to guess. (Agnes mentioned having a sister and Goss left for a few days to settle some "old business".) The loss of her son was destructive and cruel to Agnes, but unfortunately that's the was the system works sometimes. The death of Agness and Peter was their release from their torment. All in all a very interesting but unusual movie.
17 - joe johnson
this is the worst *%%$^$% MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could have made a better movie!!!!!!!! if i ever regret doing something it would have been watching and wasting my time on that STUPID A** MOVIE!!! Thank god i didnt pay for that S**T!!!! I feel much better now.
18 - christina
what the heck kind of ending was that???? This is the one and only movie I could NOT understand.. and I tried soo hard to!! :(
19 - stuart thigpen
"Bug" had all the clues to what was going on. Characters were going in and out of the Motel room and sceens like they were visitors. Because they were visitors. Agnes is an inmate in an asylum, literally living in a padded cell. Many people live out their lives in asylums, not knowing they are so ill, and make up the life they are living in their head. Such is the evidence. By the end of the movie, the motel room was looking like a padded cell. The "Bug" problem that at first was Peter's problem, centers into Agnes being the Queen, and Peter the drone. RC's relationship and talk about adoption, had to do with the friend that was adopting her child. That was what the slap was all about when Agnes threw RC out of the room. Her husband was never really there, his visits were to validate her shame. The Dr. Sweet character was not Peter's doctor, but Agnes's doctor, and the diagnosis of Peter's condition was truely Agnes's condition. How did Agnes get that way, the movie told how, the alcohol and drugs in the movie was her life style. The movie was about her manipulation of reality in her sick mind, giving her a just and final solution to end her life.
20 - Fred
One word.... CRAP
could not believe I sat and watched the whole thing.