Moviegoers who haven’t watchedMegalopolisyet will probably have an idea if they want to see it or not. If you can push aside the colosseum-size amount of negative reaction by unimpressed critics, bad word of mouth, and poor box office success, this film has given us a performance byAubrey Plazathat is easily the best part ofFrancis Ford Coppola’s fable.Emily the CriminalandTheWhite Lotushave taken Plaza away from her comedic, deadpan roles, and now withMegalopolis, out of the “who’s who” ensemble of actors,Plaza steals every scene that she’s inas the scheming, glamorous Wow Platinum. She delivers the absurd and spectacular energy that this baroque film requires and becomes a theatrical, cunning villain capable of nearly thwarting the utopiaAdam Driverhopes to create.
Wow Platinum Is a Power-Hungry News Reporter
From Plaza’s first scene, she understands the assignment.This film begs for everyone to embrace the bigger-than-life tone and she does. Wow Platinum is a news reporter in the city of New Rome, covering the public meeting between architectCesar (Driver)and Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), arguing over plans for the city’s future. The rivals converge on the rickety catwalk that looks ready to buckle at any moment, and the scene’s over-the-top drama comes to a close by having Wow sing and dance to a flirty theme song to end her coverage.Corruption and excess are rampant in New Rome, and it becomes evident Wow Platinum embodies this. She is the unsatisfied mistress to Cesar, who desires to live a lavish and rich lifestyle that she isn’t getting from the architect.
She makes a decision that is logical for her, marrying Cesar’s rich uncle, the bank CEO Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight). From snippets of an interview she had with Crassus earlier, she is unbothered by the older man’s crass and crude behavior, throwing it right back at him and enjoying it.Wow Platinum won’t let family relations stand in her way; it then becomes obvious she marries Crassus to stay in Cesar’s orbit. If that sounds ridiculous and messed up, Wow continues to push how far she will go to get what she wants, and by doing so, Plaza imbues her performance with gloriouscamp.
Aubrey Plaza Brings the Absurdity That ‘Megalopolis’ Needs
Many of the actors have their work cut out for them with clunky dialogue that brings inShakespeare quotesor baffling sentences. Not even Plaza can make the line seductive when she tells Driver, “You’re anal as hell. I, on the other hand, am oral as hell,” but she tries. Her first impression of the script is surely what helped her get into character and have more fun with the script. “It feels like it’s a dream. The whole thing feels very, very dreamlike, and scary,” she said in aninterview with Deadline.Megalopolisis certainly dream-like, with striking visuals ofstatues that collapse in defeat of the city’s injustice and the shadows of citizens placed onto skyscrapers as debris falls from the sky.Plaza realized that in this world, no one behaves like they would in the real world.
A scene in an elevator will make viewers realize she understands the tone of this stylized world on-screen better than anyone when she sets three rules for Cesar’s new love interest, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), to follow. How Plaza says, “You’re going to play by myrules!” will be stuck in your head as much as Adam Driver’s bizarre yet amusing delivery of “So go back to the club.” Wow then emphasizes this by raising a finger to count off each “rule,” with the sound effect of scissors cutting heard as her nails slice the air. What helps Plaza in the role, compared to her fellow actors, isshe is given a character audiences can identify from theGolden Age of Hollywood.
“Wow” Is the Best Word To Describe Wow Platinum
Megalopolisis about the past just as much as it is about the future, so in keeping in line with this, Coppola doesn’t just blend in history from ancient Rome, he puts in Hollywood’s past withfilm noirinfluences. A moody night meeting between Cesar and the Mayor is a nod to this older genre, but the best influence is in Wow Platinum as thefemme fatale, and Plaza is electrifying asshe masterminds a power grab to steal Crassus’ bank by manipulating her nephew Clodio (Shia LaBeouf)through sex, for a scene that is as hilarious as it is perverse when Wow nearly becomes acrobatic. Despite behind-the-scenes controversies and off-putting ideas on-screen when it comes to womanizing, Plaza commands her sexually charged scenes.
A mesmerizing sequence occurs when Wow’s hand swirls around a love potion-like liquid as she plots against her older lover, her face superimposed and spinning in the center of said liquid. Sure, many parts ofMegalopolisare not for everyone, butAubrey Plaza’s dazzling villainess deserves praise. It’s one of three big roles for her in 2024 that expand on her versatility, including the coming-of-age filmMy Old Assand the wondrously witchy seriesAgatha All Along.But of the three, onlyMegalopolissees her character face an absurd demise involving a boner joke, and an arrow to the heart, all while dressed in gold befitting of the gold digger Wow Platinum was.
Megalopolis
An architect wants to rebuild New York City as a utopia following a devastating disaster.
Megalopolisis now playing in theaters in the U.S.
Get Tickets
