The Lobster

Name: The Lobster
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Romance
Released: May 13, 2016
Duration: 119 min
Rating: 82
Cast: Colin Farrell, Jessica Barden, Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz

2016

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 44 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 523 Ratings

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7.1

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7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 523 Ratings

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The Lobster

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Movie Details & Credits

A24 | Release Date: May 13, 2016 | R

Starring: Colin Farrell, Jessica Barden, Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz

Summary: A love story set in the near future where single people, according to the rules of The City, are arrested and transferred to The Hotel. There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into The Woods. A desperate Man escapes from The Hotel to TheA love story set in the near future where single people, according to the rules of The City, are arrested and transferred to The Hotel. There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into The Woods. A desperate Man escapes from The Hotel to The Woods where The Loners live and falls in love, although it is against their rules.… Expand

Director: Giorgos Lanthimos

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 119 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Steve Persall

Jun 1, 2016

The Lobster remains strangely romantic throughout, an absurdist take on the notion that great love stories — Casablanca, The Way We Were, Gone With the Wind — don't always end tidily. Read full review

100

The Playlist Oliver Lyttelton

May 15, 2015

In the end, all the strangeness adds up towards something genuinely significant: an atypically rich and substantial comedy that's stuffed with great scenes and performances even before you start to chew on its bigger questions. Read full review

Michael Nordine

May 11, 2016

Lanthimos's consistently hilarious, borderline anti-humor slowly gives way to a romantic streak of surprising warmth. Read full review

Michael Roffman

Jan 24, 2016

The Greek filmmaker builds a stunning world with The Lobster, and much of its success stems from the inherent mechanics and the less-is-more storytelling that drops empty spaces for the mind to paint. Read full review

Justin Chang

May 12, 2016

It’s a wondrously silly premise, and one that Lanthimos, not unlike those great cine-surrealists Luis Buñuel and Charlie Kaufman before him, executes with rigorous illogic and immaculate formal control. Read full review

Richard Roeper

May 19, 2016

For about an hour, The Lobster is pure absurdist greatness, brimming with pitch-black shock humor and big, wild ideas. The second half of the film isn’t nearly as imaginative and startling, but I walked out of the screening with the surefire knowledge I wouldn’t soon shake off its most inspired sequences. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

May 24, 2016

More a movie that you appreciate and ponder than one you embrace and enjoy. Whatever its intellectual pretensions, I am looking forward to never seeing it again. Read full review

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User Reviews

lgtaylor100

Jul 3, 2016

This film is very bizarre, satirically funny, brutal and intensely thought provoking. The premise is that if someone becomes single they are sent to a resort for 45 days and if they do not find a partner they are turned into an animal of their choosing. They are also given extra days at theThis film is very bizarre, satirically funny, brutal and intensely thought provoking. The premise is that if someone becomes single they are sent to a resort for 45 days and if they do not find a partner they are turned into an animal of their choosing. They are also given extra days at the resort for shooting someone from the loner community (people who have escaped from the resort) . In this dystopian society, both the resort and the loner society are highly regimented and violent if rules are not followed... The film is mainly a satire on relationships and although we so desire to connect we often fail because we often cannot empathize with the one we have chosen. .Also, In order to connect we sometimes attempt to make ourselves into copies of the other person, a tactic that often fails. The film portrayed how difficult it is to empathize with a partner unless we share some characteristic, and because that often is impossible the relationship is doomed.. The film makes big statements and smaller ones and all of them are profound, sometimes funny and sometimes very sad. It satirizes the current dating scene by portraying its superficiality, but also satirizes and makes a grim statement about relationships in general, and society which offers us opportunities to conform or rebel, neither of which is effective. Most people exiting the theatre expressed dissatisfaction. I think that those that go on to think about it will find that it will deeply impact their thoughts and beliefs.… Expand

13 of 16 users found this helpful133

nutterjr

Dec 30, 2016

Admittedly I could hardly wait for the new collaboration between the director Yorgos Lanthimos and the screenwriter Efthimis Filippou in their first English speaking feature. And it was yet again a thoroughly stimulating absurd surrealistic dark comedy, unique to its core. Wrapped up withAdmittedly I could hardly wait for the new collaboration between the director Yorgos Lanthimos and the screenwriter Efthimis Filippou in their first English speaking feature. And it was yet again a thoroughly stimulating absurd surrealistic dark comedy, unique to its core. Wrapped up with a violently emotive score unfolds a story about finding love against the clock in a concentration camp for loners or turned into a animal of choice. Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz are great leads and Olivia Colman is an excellent supporting act in a film you won't quickly forget.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

dolphindiddler

May 27, 2016

As a dark comedy fan, this film more than satisfied my itch for absurdity. From beginning to end, I had absolutely no idea as to where the plot will take me. I'm sorry for anyone expecting a fun romp of a documentary about coruscations. That isn't to say that the title does not lend yetAs a dark comedy fan, this film more than satisfied my itch for absurdity. From beginning to end, I had absolutely no idea as to where the plot will take me. I'm sorry for anyone expecting a fun romp of a documentary about coruscations. That isn't to say that the title does not lend yet another branch of ambiguity.

Typically when it comes to this genre of film, the directors take a lot of creative liberty to the point that they're knocking you over the head with their idealism. This isn't the case for Yorgos Lanthimos, who has immense respect for the audience to come to their own conclusions on multiple aspects of the plot.

Yorgos also is brilliant at dropping you into this world with little explanation. I still have many questions as to how this world functions and why it is the way it is, but I think that way of thinking is pertinent when it comes to getting something out of a film (Sorry Michael Bay fans).

Colin Ferrell or as I called him "Fat Collin" is somber and soft spoken for the entirety of the film. The rest of the cast is delightfully quirky and intriguing. I got more out of the narrator than any other character in the film. This is an obvious nudge to the fact that this absurd world is the main character and the way its inhabitants interact with the circumstances is what defines its personality (if that makes any sense).

Although I won't suggest this film to most people, I highly implore giving it a watch if you enjoy confused belly laughs and absurd social commentary.… Expand

4 of 7 users found this helpful43

donaldist

Jun 18, 2016

A dystopian satire in which a totalitarian society runs romance like an airless Kafkaesque nightmare that doesn't work even remotely on an allegorical level- the few pointed moments rest in side comments about the "removal of the bisexual option" and "assigning children to fighting couples".A dystopian satire in which a totalitarian society runs romance like an airless Kafkaesque nightmare that doesn't work even remotely on an allegorical level- the few pointed moments rest in side comments about the "removal of the bisexual option" and "assigning children to fighting couples". Doesn't really matter too much, as the film is damned funny, and if a movie makes me laugh, problems about its grander ambitions seem less significant.
I think I would have really dug this movie if it had stuck to one element of its well-constructed world and really milked it for its worth. "Hapless man attempts to fake heartlessness in order to win over the Heartless Woman" is the best and funniest portion of the film, and really makes for a good logline for a film of its own.
Needlessly precise rating: 63/100, or B… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

Giappoman

Aug 26, 2018

The idea per se is very intriguing. The realization, though, is quite poor, especially in the second half of the movie.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

GreatMartin

Jun 3, 2016

At least 2-3 times a year I get suckered into seeing a movie from seeing a trailer or hearing that it got 5 star reviews, it has an Oscar nominated director, a solid cast lead by an A list actor, sounds and/or looks different or for many various reasons. For some, if not all the reasonsAt least 2-3 times a year I get suckered into seeing a movie from seeing a trailer or hearing that it got 5 star reviews, it has an Oscar nominated director, a solid cast lead by an A list actor, sounds and/or looks different or for many various reasons. For some, if not all the reasons listed, I went, with Allen and Philippe to see "The Lobster".

Walking out of the movie the best part was overhearing the audience making comments and reading the cremarks they left on The Gateway Theatre audience comment board. Oh yes, and listening to what Philippe and Allen had to say. One of them hit it on the head when they said "It was weird!" Allen was trying to make it more or less a time of the world in the very far future but that didn't fit in with cars and trucks of today among other things.

The premise is that being coupled is better and safer than being single. A person who is single for any various reasons has 45 days to find a partner or be turned into an animal of their choice. After that you are on your own folks!

Should you be intolerant of animal cruelity stay away from this movie though human beings aren't spared either and most in the audience kept their eyes closed in the last scene.

(I'm blaming Allen for putting us through this 1 hour and 58 minutes movie as all he had to say was that we should see something else!)… Expand

6 of 9 users found this helpful63

ShiningLion

May 18, 2020

Should've seen it coming when the A24 logo flashed at the beginning. Everything they produce is overlong, slow, pretentious, boring, and dumb, the type of movies where they just point a camera at people doing nothing or the most absurd/exploitative thing they can think of and then theShould've seen it coming when the A24 logo flashed at the beginning. Everything they produce is overlong, slow, pretentious, boring, and dumb, the type of movies where they just point a camera at people doing nothing or the most absurd/exploitative thing they can think of and then the demented types who enjoy these kinds of films tell you you're a braindead idiot if you didn't "get it" and derive great meaning from the 2 hours of brutality, **** and nothingness. Every time I've seen one of their films I feel like I'm just looking into the creators' mental illnesses, and not in an enlightening way. I can safely say I'll never watch another A24 film after three bombs in a row with this, The Witch, and Hereditary. Films like these are indicative of the problem with our lost, bored, consumer culture of people leading directionless lives where they feel no self-empowerment to create meaning in their lives. These aren't art. They're film-school dropout trash that appeals to the most lost minds. The moral always seems to be self-defeating, encouraging viewers to become depraved to escape the challenges of life. Utter **** There's no skill involved in creating these movies aside from an occasional well-framed shot. The acting is deadpan to the extent non-actors could pull it off, and the use of classical music tricks naive people into thinking they're watching something artistic and distinguished. The fact that they got a child involved in this demented production shows you the morals of the actors. I hope they didn't let her watch it, though its still an injustice that she probably someday will, and will resent a lot of people for creating the childhood illusion of excitement to be in a movie, when it's such a **** movie.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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40	#40 Best Movie of 2016
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