Amandla Stenberg and Bodies, Bodies, Bodies Critic Drama Explained

Social media has drastically changed accessibility between people making movies and people watching movies. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing, as evidenced recently in an odd exchange between actor Amandla Stenberg and a film critic who reviewed her latest movie.

While Bodies, Bodies, Bodies is largely being well-received — according to Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of critics have responded positively, compared to 72% of viewers — there have still been outliers who felt it more of a miss.

That includes Lena Wilson, who reviewed the A24 slasher for The New York Times and didn’t have much nice to say about it, short of calling it “visually appealing and nicely acted.”

This line in her review was particularly scathing:

The only thing that really sets “Bodies Bodies Bodies” apart is its place in the A24 hype machine, where it doubles as a 95-minute advertisement for cleavage and Charli XCX’s latest single.

Stenberg read the review, and Wilson recently discovered an Instagram message sent to her by the actor earlier this month, suggesting Wilson should have “gotten ur eyes off my tits” so she could watch the movie.

Wilson, who is gay, expressed her discomfort with the message, writing on TikTok that it’s “unfathomably weird to get ‘i don’t want you in the locker room while i’m changing’ bullying from a whole other lesbian.”

“I am devastated to have received this message in the first place. I was a genuine huge fan of hers,” she said. “But I’m posting it because I don’t want this person who has more social power than me to think that it’s fucking okay to do something like this.”

Fans of Stenberg have taken to defending the actor, claiming that Wilson started things by generally mentioning cleavage in her review and that Stenberg was entitled to their opinion.

But the idea that professional critics can’t critique movies, or the way they feel those movies are presenting characters, without people involved seeking them out to respond wasn’t sitting well with others.

Stenberg ultimately responded to the drama on her Instagram stories, saying she found Wilson’s review “hilarious” and that her message was meant to be as well.

“I thought, because Lena is gay, I am also gay, I thought, as gay people, we would both find this comment funny. I was also curious to know what Lena would say to such a statement,” they said. “But Lena decided to publish it and also says that I am homophobic for saying that.”

She also expressed frustration with people talking about her chest, while acknowledging that the angle Wilson intended seemed to be a critique “about A24 sexualizing me, sexualizing my body, exploiting young women in order to sensationalize them in order to make their media more popular.”

“Lena, I thought your review was hilarious. I thought my DM was funny. I did not mean to harass you and I do not wish you any harm. You are allowed to have your criticisms on my work, and I’m allowed to have my criticisms of your work,” Stenberg said, finally adding: “Thanks to anyone who has gone to see our 95 minute advertisement for cleavage.”

RELATED | Amandla Stenberg Talks Lack of Guilt Over Getting Canceled