Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 377 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Wildly imaginative and exhilaratingly over the top, Poor Things is a bizarre, brilliant tour de force for director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 88 out of 100, based on 62 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while 68% of those polled by PostTrak called the film "excellent", with 75% saying they would definitely recommend it. Glamour wrote that the film "received widespread critical acclaim following its world premiere" and that Stone was "praised for her hilariously bold and fearless sex scenes" in it.
Stephanie Zacharek of Time wrote that Poor Things is "Lanthimos' finest film so far, a strange, gorgeous-looking picture that extends generosity both to its characters and the audience". She called Stone's performance "wonderful—vital, exploratory, almost lunar in its perfect oddness". Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it a "virtuoso comic epic" and added that Stone had given a "hilarious, beyond-next-level performance". David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter termed it "an insanely enjoyable fairy tale", adding that Stone "gorges on it in a fearless performance that traces an expansive arc most actors could only dream about". Variety's Guy Lodge also wrote that the film "rests on a single astonishing performance by Stone".
BBC Culture's Nicholas Barber found the film "outrageous and hilarious", comparing it to the work of Wes Anderson and Terry Gilliam. The review also noted that the novel's realistic 19th-century setting had been changed to a fantastical "steam-punk wonderland", and that some of its satirical humor and most of its socialist and feminist themes had been toned down. Reviews by The Guardian, Variety and Entertainment Weekly also emphasize the setting's steampunk elements. Manohla Dargis, chief critic of The New York Times, was not as impressed. She felt the story became more "monotonal, flat and dull" over time, writing that the movie's "design is rich, its ideas thin. … It isn't long into Poor Things that you start to feel as if you were being bullied into admiring a film that's so deeply self-satisfied there really isn't room for the two of you". But Dargis too lauded Stone's acting.
Filmmakers such as Michael Mann, A. V. Rockwell, Joe Dante, Chloe Domont, Robert Eggers, Kitty Green, Chad Hartigan, Matt Johnson, Zoe Lister-Jones, James Ponsoldt and Jeff Rowe also praised the film.
In June 2025, IndieWire ranked the film at number 88 on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far)." In July 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 106.
Ramin Setoodeh and Zack Sharf in Variety wrote, "Not everyone loved Poor Things. A stream of [Venice] theatergoers bolted for the exit during some of the racier scenes." Mick LaSalle at the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "a 141-minute mistake", writing, "Worst of all, it's dishonest. It purports to be a feminist document, but it defines a woman's autonomy as the ability to be exploited and not care. ... What version of feminism are these guys—Lanthimos and screenwriter Tony McNamara—trying to sell us here?" Film critic Scott Mantz applauded LaSalle's post, finding the film "a seriously misguided take on female empowerment", though he praised the film's ambition and production values.
Angelica Jade Bastién of Vulture warned readers, "This isn't a sincere treatise on female sexuality, it's a dark comedy for people who carry around an NPR tote bag", and criticized the film for failing to take a "sincere interest in the interior conflicts" of its protagonist. Bastién identified the decision to make Bella Baxter mentally a child as the "primary failure of Poor Things' sex scenes", citing Bella's depiction as an example of the "born sexy yesterday" trope. "In many ways", she wrote, "the film demonstrates the limits of the modern cis-male auteur's vision for and about women—particularly their sexual selves." Praise was saved for Holly Waddington's costuming, which Bastién called "the greatest triumph of the film".
The film has been subject to scrutiny in Gray's native Scotland due to its seeming disregard for the source material and its Scottish roots, with online documentary channel Ossian presenting a portrayal of the true origins of Poor Things and its Scottish setting. Those closest to Gray have suggested that Lanthimos's interpretation of the source material was something Gray agreed to in the early 2010s, when contractual terms for a screenplay were drawn up.
