Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Crass Hollywood pandemic spoof -- language, drug use, sex.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
The Bubble
What's the Story?
In THE BUBBLE, Hollywood is desperate for a blockbuster hit movie at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. With that in mind, the cast and crew of the latest movie in the Cliff Beasts franchise, Cliff Beasts 6, have arrived in the English countryside. There is Carol Cobb (Karen Gillan), returning to the franchise after her movie about Israelis and Palestinians uniting to fend off an alien invasion was a commercial and critical failure. There is Darren (Fred Armisen), who is being given a chance to direct his first big-budget movie after attaining indie cred for shooting a movie with an iPhone 6 at his previous job at a home improvement megastore. A social media superstar (Iris Apatow) is brought in as a ploy to appeal to the youth market. Bad method actors, aspiring cult leaders, and a Type A studio executive (Kate McKinnon) are determined to ensure that this movie is finished, no matter the mental and emotional breakdowns, hook-ups, drug hallucinations, and injuries that happen as the movie is being made. As the cast openly rebels against a quarantine that increasingly feels like they're being held against their will, Darren must find a way to see his artistic vision through to completion.
Is It Any Good?
Two hours and six minutes is a very long time to sit through a comedy almost entirely devoid of comedy. And yet, The Bubble somehow manages to make this happen. It's all the more impressive -- and disappointing -- considering all the talent involved in this ensemble cast. You go in expecting so much more from everyone involved, but the result is a whole lot of self-indulgence and obvious jokes that don't work no matter how much talent, how many "F" words, and all the R-rated hijinks in the world you try to force into it.
It's kind of a satire on entitled Hollywood jerks going through the pandemic in the way literally everyone in Middle America would think entitled Hollywood jerks going through it would behave. It's also an unnecessary mockery of celebrity. It's also a parody of blockbuster action movies; this aspect of the movie works best, even if many of these jokes are obvious. It's also kind of a parody of documentaries on the making of movies where the director, cast, and crew all start losing their minds as one disaster follows another -- such as the Apocalypse Now documentary Hearts of Darkness, or the crazed artistic visions and rivalry of Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski in Burden of Dreams, or Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate. It's all low-hanging fruit ripe for the plucking, but instead, the movie gets lost in trying to replicate something akin to the ensemble multi-stories that were perfected by Robert Altman.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about satire and parody in The Bubble. What is the difference between the two, and how does the movie try to use both?
Are the crass humor and over-the-top sight gags too much, or is "too much" the whole point?
How does the movie try to mine comedy out of the isolation everyone experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : April 1, 2022
- Cast : Karen Gillan , Fred Armisen , Pedro Pascal
- Director : Judd Apatow
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Asian Movie Actor(s) , Latino Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Comedy
- Run time : 126 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : Language throughout, sexual content, drug use and some violence.
- Last updated : April 9, 2022
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