By Design

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1:39

By Design

Feb 2026

1h 32m

Comedy

Drama

Sci-Fi

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Popcornmeter

74%

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58 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

A woman (Juliette Lewis) swaps bodies with a chair, and everyone likes her better as a chair in a surreal, deadpan comedy from director Amanda Kramer.

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Critics Consensus

Amanda Kramer's delicate creation intellectualizes the absurdity of objectification, yet this film won't sit still in the audience's mind and that's By Design.

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Marina Ashioti

Little White Lies

Oct 13, 2026

4/5

Even a utilitarian object can never entirely be what it means to us. Kramer turns that abstraction into something potent, humorous and faintly uncanny.

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Rob Silverman Ascher

Chicago Reader

Feb 24, 2026

By Design is gorgeous—particularly with Sophie Hardeman’s costuming—but possibly too loopy for some. If you like it strange, By Design will give you a lot to sit with.

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Coleman Spilde

Salon.com

Feb 20, 2026

Sstick around, and you will find that Kramer’s take on the subgenre is far more fascinating and pertinent to life outside the movie theater than most of its peers.

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Sean McGeady

Radio Times

Nov 6, 2026

4/5

There are relatively few laugh-out-loud moments but the deadpan humour rarely relents, and the absurdities add up to an emotionally effective climax in a film that takes objectification to its limit.

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Jennie Kermode

Eye for Film

Oct 16, 2026

4.5/5

Nobody seems to notice that this unresponsive woman is not in fact paying attention to them, and Kramer spins this out impressively, building drama from a mixture of monologuing and imagination

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Stephen Silver

The SS Ben Hecht

Jul 23, 2026

That doesn’t sound like the premise of an especially good movie. But somehow, it is.

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John F. T....

Mar 1, 2026

this movie is amazing , one of the best movies ever.

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TheMovieSearch R

@TheMovieSearch Oct 30, 2026

By Design was a movie I hated. The concept, especially the chair storyline, felt so ridiculous that I kept questioning why I had picked this film. Nothing worked for me, and what might have been an unusual idea quickly became painfully dumb. I kept waiting for the story to give me a reason to care, but it never happened. This movie makes you debate turning it off halfway through. It feels like something you might put on while browsing streaming options because you are bored, but even then, it struggles to hold your attention. The writing never gives you anything engaging, and the experience feels like time I could have spent watching something better. I am surprised Juliette Lewis signed on for this project, because this is one of the worst films I have seen her associated with. By Design never finds its footing, and its central idea never becomes entertaining. For me, this was a complete waste of time. I would not recommend it, and I certainly would not watch it again.

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Olivier R

@RT28403837 May 17, 2026

It's interesting and has it's moments, but thinking that's worth 90 minutes of people's time is beyond pretentious. Some people will obviously pretend to love this and argue deep and meaningful symbolism and discourse. Those people deserve that movie.

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Vincent S

@Vin_E_At_The_Movies Mar 20, 2026

By Design would be better as a short 30-minute film. It is original and has some good ideals plus Juliette Lewis is great. It is too long of a movie to be really effective though.

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Bmac T

@RT39473920 Mar 18, 2026

I love Juliette Lewis, especially in Natural Born Killers. This movie was so slow, boring, weird and lame. I got through less than 20 minutes.

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Joe C

@JoeinAtl Feb 15, 2026

If this were a student film by 19 year olds, it would all be forgivable - the fragmented storyline, clunky dialogue, unforgiving lighting, makeup and costume. It's not a student film, though, it's made by purported professionals with real actors. It's a novel concept, but seems to be trying so so hard that it becomes too artsy by half.

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By Design: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

A woman (Juliette Lewis) swaps bodies with a chair, and everyone likes her better as a chair in a surreal, deadpan comedy from director Amanda Kramer.

Director: Amanda Kramer
Producer: Jacob Agger, Miranda Bailey, Sarah Winshall, Natalie Whalen, Jake Agger
Screenwriter: Amanda Kramer
Distributor: Music Box Films
Production Co: Smudge Films, Cold Iron Pictures
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 13, 2026, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 17, 2026
Box Office (Gross USA): $32.5K
Runtime: 1h 32m

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