How do the kids cope with heartbreak and existential dread these days? “Bunnylovr” implies that it is not especially healthy or even safe, and even though the movie doesn’t make this case (that would amount to more depth than this one is willing or able to explore), it isn’t that much better or worse than what previous generations did to hack through it. It’s a story many have seen before, yet most of those other iterations weren’t as listless or disjointed as what writer/director/lead actor Katarina Zhu presents here, nor as visually uninspired.
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Rebecca (Zhu) is still reeling from a recent break-up when the audience meets her mid-cam session, where online voyeurs send gifts and PayPal donations for her time and affection. Although it’s clear she is lying, Rebecca swears up and down to friend and trust fund artist Bella (Rachel Sennott) that she has moved on from her ex-boyfriend and hasn’t seen him in weeks, yet the emotional fog she keeps herself in tell a different story. A chance encounter with her estranged father, William (b), right around the time one of her cam subscribers begins demanding more of her time, leads to troubles at her day job, further complicating her world.
Rebecca deals with the stress of her personal life’s implosion, like so many young people navigating their first adult trauma: badly. It’s a relatable story and a good entre into solid character work for a larger narrative, yet “Bunnylovr” is content to explore just this little universe and Rebecca’s place in it. Bad decisions lead to unexpected consequences and complex personal reflection, to be sure, yet where Zhu and her script stumble, so too does the larger effort.
The movie has several interesting ideas and positions Rebecca well for the events of the A-, B-, and C- plots, but uneven pacing and story amnesia consistently throw the more considerable effort off. The film introduces William and the dad dynamic in the first couple of minutes, then loses track of him for big chunks of the picture. His fleeting appearances don’t allow for much emotional currency when “Bunnylovr” tries to spend heavily on this front later, making for a flat third act desperate for an emotional anchor.
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The visual language of the film is similarly scattered and lacks consistency. Zhu seems fond of keeping the camera close, filling the screen with her characters’ faces, but as a technique, it doesn’t serve the picture in any particular way (i.e., utilizing micro-expressions for narrative functions, creating claustrophobia, increasing tension, etc.). Although the heightened focus on vape hits or binder assembly gives “Bunnylovr” a tactile feeling, that’s about the only true sensation this movie gives to its audience through filmic clues.
Which is the problem, as “Bunnylovr” spends all of its time creating a character and an environment, yet gives them precious little to do therein. A story about a young, urban woman navigating emotional turmoil, sure: but having made a real, lived-in character for herself, Zhu doesn’t seem able to do much with it. As an actress, she carries herself well and knows how to inhabit Rebecca’s space, yet as a writer/director connecting narrative dots and visual cues, she comes up short.
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Sennott and Yung do well in the handful of scenes they are in, as does Jack Kilmer as the slimy ex-boyfriend masking his emotional cowardice with noncommittal niceties. Had this been more of an ensemble piece about how different people and generations experience love, loss, and human connection in 2025 and how that experience changes them, it might have all come together a bit better than it ultimately does. Zhu does have some interesting ideas about the dangers of exploring the artificial world for a real sense of connection, but the script and the movie come off as if they are only scratching the surface of all of this.
A modern tale of loneliness, heartbreak, and the search for love in the OnlyFans era, “Bunnylovr” doesn’t tell a story so much as it works around the edges of one. Uneven pacing and an anemic plot hamstring the film, which has a couple of interesting ideas yet precious few about how to convey them to its audience. [D]
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