Film

Cruella

Name: Cruella
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Released: 2021
Cast: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, John McCrea

Drama

A stylish origin story set in 1970s London that transforms a Disney villain into a punk-rock antihero. Emma Stone plays Estella, a grifter with a gift for disruption who becomes Cruella through betrayal and ambition. It's a film that cares about its aesthetics—the costumes, the chaos, the comeuppance—and moves with real energy. For anyone who loves a villain's tale told with flair and mischief.

TMDb rating

4.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love caper-style fashion larks with a sharp, anarchic streak, where the costumes are as much a character as the thieves and Emma Thompson's icy grandeur gets to chew scenery.

Skip it if you want a lean, tightly plotted thriller, since this is a long 134 minutes that sometimes lingers on its period soundtrack and sheen.

What it asks of you: Settle in for over two hours of stylish, busy scenes, with the tone swinging between cheeky caper and grand melodrama, so keep your attention on the costumes and the cutting dialogue.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Devil Wears Prada2006

Another story about ambition colliding with fashion world cruelty, where a brilliant woman claws her way up through style and nerve. Meryl Streep's Vivian is the blueprint for how to make a cold character magnetic.

But It's a workplace comedy wrapped around serious class politics, and if you're looking for revenge spectacle rather than character study, it lands softer than Cruella.

Nightmare Alley2021

A noir about a charming grifter who gets seduced by wealth and power, then learns the cost. Guillermo del Toro's direction is sumptuous, and the fall from grace has real teeth—much darker than Cruella but with the same appetite for style over substance.

But It's slow, it's bleak, and the protagonist's downfall doesn't come with a soundtrack or a laugh. The tone is unrelentingly grim.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood2019

Tarantino's 1970s LA loves its production design and period detail the way Cruella loves its costumes and music. It's about people on the margins of glamour with outsized charisma and a gift for causing trouble. Brad Pitt's performance rewards your attention.

But The plot is deliberately baggy and more interested in vibe than momentum. If you want propulsive storytelling, this meanders.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Cruella

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Jubilee1978

Both are love letters to 1970s London's punk explosion, using fashion and visual chaos as a language for outsider rebellion. Cruella is the polished version of the artistic anarchy Jarman captured raw.

Derek Jarman's fever dream of 1970s London punk culture, where a time-traveling queen witnesses anarchy, fashion, and beautiful mayhem. It's experimental, grotesque, and visually audacious in ways that feel like the spiritual ancestor to Cruella's aesthetic rebellion. A punk-rock fever dream that understands how style IS politics.

But It's avant-garde, plotless, and deliberately difficult. The acting is amateurish, the narrative is abstract, and if you want character arcs or emotional clarity, you will be frustrated.

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)2020

A female antihero origin story that's visually inventive, funny, and knows how to stage violence like a music video. It shares Cruella's refusal to apologize for its protagonist and its use of humor to sidestep moral judgment.

But The humor gets broad and juvenile in places, and some of the action editing is chaotic to the point of confusion. It doesn't have Cruella's costume elegance.

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) poster

The Gentlemen2020

Guy Ritchie on charming criminals with style and wit, set in a world where everyone's playing angles and the best con wins. It's got the swagger and the ensemble energy, plus genuinely funny banter that lands on both intelligence and silliness.

But The plot gets convoluted fast, and the humor relies on British-isms and slang that don't always translate. It can feel slight underneath all the flash.

I, Tonya2017

A sympathetic biopic about a figure the world hated, using style and humor to make us see her as a person rather than a punchline. Margot Robbie's performance is electric, and the film uses its 1980s setting with the same visual confidence as Cruella uses the '70s.

But The tone wavers between comedy and genuine tragedy, which can feel tonally uncertain. Some viewers find the irreverence toward a real person's suffering uncomfortable.

In Bruges2008

Two hitmen hide in a medieval city and accidentally become philosophers. It's darkly funny, visually precise, and cares about making terrible people oddly sympathetic. The writing is sharper than it needs to be, and the performance energy matches Cruella's.

But It's violent and nihilistic beneath the quaintness, and the emotional beats sneak up on you without warning. Some find the tonal shifts jarring.

Maleficent2014

Another Disney villain origin story, this one about how cruelty is born from betrayal. Angelina Jolie commits fully to the role, and the film understands that making a villain sympathetic doesn't require making her good. A direct spiritual cousin to Cruella.

But The logic of the plot can feel thin, and the film sometimes undercuts its darker impulses with family-film sentimentality. It's a less confident film than Cruella.

American Animals2018

A stylish, energetic heist film based on real events, where the direction matches the characters' youthful electricity and schemes. It bounces between fiction and documentary, visual flourish and genuine consequence. Fast-paced and inventive.

But The real story it's based on involves young men in over their heads, so the tone is less gleeful villainy than Cruella and more cautionary. Some will find it too frivolous about real crime.

Uncut Gems2019

Both center on morally loose protagonists who move through worlds obsessed with luxury and status. But where Cruella is playful and stylized, Uncut Gems is suffocating realism—same appetites, opposite registers.

Adam Sandler as a grifter and hustler moving through a world of status symbols and moral compromise, pursued by consequence. It's kinetic, suffocating, and visually rich—the camera never stops moving. A masterclass in how to make watching someone self-destruct absolutely riveting.

But It's relentlessly stressful and claustrophobic. There are almost no moments of relief or humor, and the protagonist's destruction is slow and inevitable. Many find it exhausting rather than entertaining.

Nana2005

Both use punk and fashion subculture as the visual and moral landscape where female characters test themselves. But Nana is intimate and introspective where Cruella is grand and revenge-driven—different species of the same obsession with style as survival.

A Japanese film about two women named Nana who meet on a train to Tokyo and navigate punk rock, fashion, and ambition in the early 2000s. It's visually gorgeous, emotionally complex, and uses music and style as a character language the way Cruella does. A cult treasure about female friendship and the cost of reinvention.

But It's over two hours, requires patience with quiet moments, and the ending is deliberately unresolved. The punk and fashion world details may feel dated. It's a melodrama, not a thriller.