# Suburbicon
**Suburbicon** is a 2017 American black comedy crime thriller directed by [George Clooney](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-clooney), set in a seemingly idyllic, all-white suburban town in the late 1950s where a staged home invasion and a real estate integration crisis collide. It stars [Matt Damon](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-damon), Julianne Moore, Noah Jupe, and [Oscar Isaac](https://www.edgepedia.org/oscar-isaac), and was released by Paramount Pictures on October 27, 2017.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/suburbicon) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491175)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Directed by George Clooney; screenplay by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, George Clooney, and Grant Heslov[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/suburbicon) |
| Cast | Matt Damon (Gardner Lodge), Julianne Moore (Rose and her twin sister Margaret), Noah Jupe (Nicky), Oscar Isaac (insurance investigator)[3](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/suburbicon) |
| Setting | A planned suburban town in the summer of 1959, modeled on Levittown, Pennsylvania in 1957[4](https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2017/program-cinema-2017-press/george-clooney-suburbicon-1) |
| Release | October 27, 2017 (wide, United States); 105 minutes; rated R for violence, language, and some sexuality[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/suburbicon) • [5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Suburbicon) |
| Budget and gross | $25,000,000 production budget; $5,775,178 domestic and $15,521,619 worldwide box office[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Suburbicon) |
| Critical reception | 27% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 256 reviews; 26% audience score[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/suburbicon) |
| Festivals | Premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival (September 2017); North American premiere at Toronto[4](https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2017/program-cinema-2017-press/george-clooney-suburbicon-1) • [6](https://downloads.contentful.com/22n7d68fswlw/3Bk5TqTMmsSoOcmc2MKEK8/c5e8d1d53e3be7f44b6280f177f44862/2017_Festival_Programme_Book.pdf) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film follows Gardner Lodge (Matt Damon), a family man in the planned town of Suburbicon, established in 1947 as a pleasant community drawing newcomers seeking an idyllic lifestyle.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491175/plotsummary/) In the summer of 1959, a staged home invasion leaves his wife Rose ([Julianne Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/julianne-moore)), who uses a wheelchair after a car accident, dead; Gardner has been having an affair with Rose's twin sister Margaret, also played by Moore, and the two plan to collect insurance money and run away to Aruba.[3](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/suburbicon) • [6](https://downloads.contentful.com/22n7d68fswlw/3Bk5TqTMmsSoOcmc2MKEK8/c5e8d1d53e3be7f44b6280f177f44862/2017_Festival_Programme_Book.pdf) Their son Nicky ([Noah Jupe](https://www.edgepedia.org/noah-jupe)) notices the growing closeness between his father and his aunt, while a claims investigator (Oscar Isaac) noses around making insinuations.[8](https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/article/Suburbicon-writer-calls-the-film-12279094.php)
Running alongside this plot, a Black family, the Meyers (Leith M. Burke and Karimah Westbrook, with Tony Espinosa as their son Andy), moves into the all-white town and faces harassment and nightly protests from white neighbors, culminating in a mob at their door.[8](https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/article/Suburbicon-writer-calls-the-film-12279094.php) • [9](https://time.com/4926555/suburbicon-review-george-clooney/) Nicky befriends Andy Meyers as the two storylines proceed in parallel.[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/george-clooneys-suburbicon-bristles-with-rage-and-bitter-humor/2017/10/24/04be771c-b43e-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html)
## Origins and development
**Two source stories.** Joel and [Ethan Coen](https://www.edgepedia.org/ethan-coen) wrote the original *Suburbicon* screenplay in the 1980s (the Guardian dates it to 1986); the film was never made and the script was shelved. The Coens had wanted Clooney to play the insurance investigator role eventually taken by Oscar Isaac.[4](https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2017/program-cinema-2017-press/george-clooney-suburbicon-1) • [8](https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/article/Suburbicon-writer-calls-the-film-12279094.php) • [11](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/27/george-clooney-suburbicon-racial-politics) Separately, Clooney and his longtime collaborator [Grant Heslov](https://www.edgepedia.org/grant-heslov) were developing a story set in [Levittown, Pennsylvania](https://www.edgepedia.org/levittown-pennsylvania), in 1957, based on the short documentary *Crisis in Levittown*, about the integration of the white middle-class community. Clooney called the Coens and asked to combine the two, moving the script to a period setting in a town like Levittown.[4](https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2017/program-cinema-2017-press/george-clooney-suburbicon-1) • [10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/george-clooneys-suburbicon-bristles-with-rage-and-bitter-humor/2017/10/24/04be771c-b43e-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html) The harassment scenes re-create the historical record down to a racist petition demanding the family's removal.[8](https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/article/Suburbicon-writer-calls-the-film-12279094.php)
**Re-cutting after the election.** Clooney said at the [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) that he re-cut the film after the 2016 presidential election, making it angrier and less silly, and excised an entire comic-relief sequence featuring [Josh Brolin](https://www.edgepedia.org/josh-brolin).[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/george-clooneys-suburbicon-bristles-with-rage-and-bitter-humor/2017/10/24/04be771c-b43e-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html) He told Screen that the film was not designed as an allegory, saying "films can never lead a conversation because it takes two years to make them," but that the 2017 events in Charlottesville had transformed the film's meaning.[12](https://www.screendaily.com/features/clooney-talks-suburbicon-race-and-breitbart-idiots-/5122241.article)
## Production
Filming took place in October 2016, principally in [Fullerton, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/fullerton-california).[13](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491175/locations/) Location manager Michael Burmeister, who had earlier found the 50-home street for *Edward Scissorhands*, settled on four principal locations; the main street, in northern Orange County, had no trees at the time, and the city delayed planting until the shoot finished.[14](https://cdn.film.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LOC_CAL2022-FINAL-TO-WEBSITE.pdf) Robert Elswit was the cinematographer, James D. Bissell the production designer, Stephen Mirrione the editor, and [Alexandre Desplat](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexandre-desplat) composed the score.[4](https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2017/program-cinema-2017-press/george-clooney-suburbicon-1)
The production was mounted cheaply for a period film with A-list leads: Clooney said the budget was $24 million and that everyone worked below their usual rates, with Clooney himself paid $50,000 to write, direct, and produce over two years, with no share of the profits.[12](https://www.screendaily.com/features/clooney-talks-suburbicon-race-and-breitbart-idiots-/5122241.article) Production companies included Black Bear Pictures, Dark Castle Entertainment, and Smoke House Pictures.[6](https://downloads.contentful.com/22n7d68fswlw/3Bk5TqTMmsSoOcmc2MKEK8/c5e8d1d53e3be7f44b6280f177f44862/2017_Festival_Programme_Book.pdf)
## Reception
**Festival and reviews.** The film premiered in competition at Venice in September 2017 and had its North American premiere at Toronto.[4](https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2017/program-cinema-2017-press/george-clooney-suburbicon-1) • [6](https://downloads.contentful.com/22n7d68fswlw/3Bk5TqTMmsSoOcmc2MKEK8/c5e8d1d53e3be7f44b6280f177f44862/2017_Festival_Programme_Book.pdf) Reviews were largely negative. Rotten Tomatoes recorded 27% on the Tomatometer from 256 reviews, with a critics consensus calling it a disappointing misfire that attempts to juggle social satire, racial commentary, and murder mystery and ends up making a mess of all three.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/suburbicon) Reviewers repeatedly identified the same structural problem: the film grafts a grisly Coen-style noir onto a socially conscious race-relations drama, and the two halves do not cohere.[15](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/Arts-Culture/Movies/2017/1027/Suburbicon-is-an-uneasy-mixture-of-noir-and-socially-conscious-film) The Guardian argued that the racial subplot was misplaced and that the Meyers family was marginalized in a film ostensibly about their persecution.[11](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/27/george-clooney-suburbicon-racial-politics) The Washington Post found the tonal shifts disjointed even while crediting the film's rage, and Time called it a misfire on nearly all counts while praising its visual rendering of 1950s perfectionism.[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/george-clooneys-suburbicon-bristles-with-rage-and-bitter-humor/2017/10/24/04be771c-b43e-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html) • [9](https://time.com/4926555/suburbicon-review-george-clooney/)
**Box office.** Against a $25,000,000 production budget, the film opened to $2,840,246 in 2,046 theaters and finished with $5,775,178 domestically and $15,521,619 worldwide, about 0.6 times its production budget.[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Suburbicon) The opening weekend accounted for 49.2% of the total domestic gross, and the film dropped 58% in its second weekend.[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Suburbicon) Its largest international markets included France ($1,104,017), Italy ($1,056,779), and China ($880,805).[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Suburbicon)
## References
1. [Suburbicon, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/suburbicon)
2. [Suburbicon (2017), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491175)
3. [Suburbicon, Paramount Pictures](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/suburbicon)
4. [George Clooney – Suburbicon, La Biennale di Venezia 2017](https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2017/program-cinema-2017-press/george-clooney-suburbicon-1)
5. [Suburbicon (2017) Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Suburbicon)
6. [Toronto International Film Festival 2017 Programme Book](https://downloads.contentful.com/22n7d68fswlw/3Bk5TqTMmsSoOcmc2MKEK8/c5e8d1d53e3be7f44b6280f177f44862/2017_Festival_Programme_Book.pdf)
7. [Suburbicon (2017) – Plot, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491175/plotsummary/)
8. ["'Suburbicon' writer calls the film 'alchemy'", San Francisco Chronicle](https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/article/Suburbicon-writer-calls-the-film-12279094.php)
9. ["Review: Clooney's Overpolished Suburbicon Misses the Mark by a Mile", Time](https://time.com/4926555/suburbicon-review-george-clooney/)
10. ["George Clooney's 'Suburbicon' bristles with rage and bitter humor", The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/george-clooneys-suburbicon-bristles-with-rage-and-bitter-humor/2017/10/24/04be771c-b43e-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html)
11. ["How failed racial politics sink George Clooney's Suburbicon", The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/27/george-clooney-suburbicon-racial-politics)
12. ["Clooney talks 'Suburbicon', race and Breitbart 'idiots'", Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/features/clooney-talks-suburbicon-race-and-breitbart-idiots-/5122241.article)
13. [Suburbicon (2017) – Filming & production, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491175/locations/)
14. [California Film Commission 2022 production locations guide](https://cdn.film.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LOC_CAL2022-FINAL-TO-WEBSITE.pdf)
15. ["'Suburbicon' is an uneasy mixture of noir and socially conscious film", The Christian Science Monitor](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/Arts-Culture/Movies/2017/1027/Suburbicon-is-an-uneasy-mixture-of-noir-and-socially-conscious-film)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2015–2019 films › Heist and crime comedy films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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