Queer (2024)

Somewhere in the South American jungle, Queer wanders off the trail and never quite finds it again, which stings, because Daniel Craig spends the first hour giving maybe the most open performance of his career. He plays William Lee, an American expat in 1950 Mexico City who bounces between bars, lonely to the bone. One night he notices Eugene Allerton, a younger American played by Drew Starkey, and he’s smitten. Craig makes Lee funny, needy and a little heartbreaking, a man trying way too hard to be wanted, while Allerton stays cool and unreadable. Starkey is stuck playing a closed door, and next to Craig he fades. Luca Guadagnino makes every frame look gorgeous. Then the two set off on a trip into the jungle, and the movie turns strange and slow, with Lesley Manville turning up late as Dr. Cotter. It holds a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. A 6.2 because the longing is real and the last stretch loses its way. $4,831 says that for two whole hours you forget this man ever played James Bond.

What works: Daniel Craig is funny, open and painfully vulnerable as Lee, and Guadagnino gives the whole film a swoony, gorgeous look.

What doesn’t: Once the story heads into the jungle it gets strange and meandering, and Allerton stays so closed off that the central pairing feels lopsided.

Who it’s for: Daniel Craig fans ready to see him far from the tuxedo, and viewers who like slow, moody films about loneliness.