Comedy ages faster and less charitably than any other form of media, especially when the target of mockery is ripped from the headlines' news like the ongoing pandemic. A film likeThe Bubblemight have been groundbreaking stuff around July 2020, but today, it’s outpaced by a thousand quicker wits, online or on-screen.
Director and co-writer Judd Apatowhas made most of his career out of flawed but very human stories about aging, sex, and comedy. His newest film tackles the same subjects from a much less intelligent viewpoint. Elements of his newest film feel like they didn’t make the cut on previous efforts and the filmmaker felt he had just enough pandemic jokes to half-wrap a screenplay around. The other credited writer, Pam Brady, is probably best known for scriptingTeam America: World PoliceorSouth Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
RELATED:Black Crab Review
The plot is mostly scaffolding from which to hang lackluster sketch comedy. The film takes place in mid-2020, on the set of the sixth in a long line of action blockbusters called Cliff Beasts. The producer (Peter SerafinowiczofJohn Wick 2) halfheartedly leads a crew of fellow professionals trying to corral the mercurial cast and follow pandemic guidelines. Disaster strikes at every turn as the fate of the entire studio hangs in the balance of the film’s production. As things grow worse by the hour, and weeks in lockdown turn to months, the conditions worsen and the studio resorts to more Draconian tactics to keep their talent in line.
The characters are helpfully subdivided into factions, and it all has areality TV show vibe. The actors treat each other like they’re the only human beings on set and occasionally retreat to camaraderie when they must. The production team and film crew divide their time between imposing the studio’s cruel will and being starstruck spending time near famous people. Perhaps most interestingly, the cast is quarantined safely in a luxury hotel maintained by a tiny staff who are eager to keep the production there and continue profiting off of them. The characters aren’t all interesting, some of them are either incomprehensible or one-note, but the cast is the absolute high point.
The script is the biggest problem, but almost every actor in the film showed up to play. It’s a massive ensemble cast with some of Hollywood’s best comedic performers and character talent.Karen Gillan is the centerpieceas Carol Cobb, who enters the production on shaky ground, having skipped the previous entry in the franchise. Keegan Micheal Key portrays a committed performer, stressed about his age and fresh off the success of a culty self-help book.Pedro Pascal is excellentas always as an intense character actor struggling with every major addiction. Fred Armisen portrays the commanding yet socially inept director, desperately seeking control on his first big project. Iris Apatow, Leslie Mann, David Duchovny, and Guz Khan round out the in-universe cast, and they’re all outstanding in their roles. The cast is excellent across the board, really elevating the often lackluster material. There are countless cameos from beloved comedians like Maria Bamford and the occasional big-name there to participate in their mocking.
The problem is overwhelmingly in the script. Basically every gag in the film has been done before somewhere else, and often substantially better. It’s hard to find a joke about the filmmaking process in this film that wasn’tcovered byTropic Thunder14 years ago. It’s hard to find a joke about the pandemic that wasn’t covered by a thousand young creators on social media. In fact, the anxiety of the film industry being undercut by YouTube or TikTok fame is front and center in this piece. There are even some weak efforts to push back against the way social media makes a mockery of old media standbys. Though the target of ridicule is meant to be the filmmaking process, on both the studio and the artistic level, Apatow can’t help but take his own side against those mean kids on Twitter.
The best gags in the film come from the terrible movie that the cast is going through so much suffering to create. Cliff Beasts 6, the in-universe sci-fi blockbuster has the feel ofa Syfy original filmwith a massively overinflated budget. It’s very funny in action, but the film just can’t let the jokes lie. Every funny moment has to be buffeted on all sides by someone pointing out how self-aware they are about its silliness. The jokes suffer from supposedly intelligent characters feeling the need to comment on what made it funny. It’s like the film’s script doesn’t trust the audience to recognize a joke on the rare occasion that one lands. If the characters could stop blithely quipping about how stupid it all looks or over-explaining their punchline, the audience might find time to laugh on occasion.
To top it all off,The Bubblehas no business beingover two hours long. There’s funny stuff in the film, but there are often deserts of dull material between them. The curious lack of restraint weakens the film. There are entire subplots that take up plenty of screen time, aren’t particularly funny, then amount to nothing. Editing this thing down to an hour and a half would really help it, but the complete lack of interesting new ideas will make it little more than a brief distraction.
In this age of filmmaking which feelsso well-suited for parody, someone with some original ideas will hopefully take another crack at this concept. It’s hard to comment on the profit-driven soullessness of modern cinema with a movie that only made it to screen thanks to some marketable names attached. Skip it, letThe Bubbleleave as little of an impact as possible, everyone involved will be better for it.
MORE:Judd Apatow Inks A Multiyear Film And TV Deal With Universal
The Bubble
The Bubble is a comedy film about a group of actors and actresses forced to work inside a “pandemic bubble” during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak. The film sees the various teams involved attempting to complete a sequel to an action franchise film about flying dinosaurs as everyone slowly slips into comedic madness.
