‘Bigbug’ Review: Rise of the Machines

In Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s futuristic farce, “Bigbug,” a suite of loyal domestic robots moves to protect a suburban family from bigger, badder androids. As the film progresses, though, it becomes clear that these particular humans might not be worth saving.

As written by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant, “Bigbug,” filmed on a single stage set, delivers artificial-intelligence comedy with a doomy vibe. When a militaristic breed of androids, the Yonyx, attempts a political takeover, the bickering, blended family — chiefly a ditsy wife (Elsa Zylberstein), her randy suitor (Stéphane De Groodt), her boorish ex-husband (Youssef Hadji) and his younger-model fiancée (Claire Chust) — finds itself trapped in unwilling lockdown by its mechanical servants.

A candy-colored, sociopolitical cartoon featuring all-too-believable grotesqueries — like a reality-TV show in which Yonyx hosts treat humans like animals — “Bigbug” is at once relentlessly busy and oddly static, a Peloton ride to nowhere very interesting. A filmmaker with a toymaker’s heart, Jeunet delights in seeding his movies with eccentric, often menacing gadgets, so it’s no surprise that his wayward androids are more enjoyable than his self-involved human characters. There’s the Yonyx leader, brought to leering life by François Levantal and a fearsome set of dentures; the chillingly cheerful housekeeper (Claude Perron); and a pleasure model, wonderfully played by Alban Lenoir, overcome with devotion to its owner.

Despite some snappy ideas (an aggressive advertising drone pushing products as answers to the family’s every problem), “Bigbug” is overdressed, overlong and diminishingly amusing. The sequence where the robots attempt to become more human might be played for laughs, but it inevitably prompts the question: Is an android with a soul any scarier than a human without one?

Bigbug
Not rated. In French, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 51 minutes. Watch on Netflix.