THE BUBBLE
US, 2022, 126 minutes, Colour.
Karen Gillan, Leslie Mann, Iris Apatow, Pedro Pascal, Harry Trevaldwyn, Samson Kayo, Peter Serafinowicz, Rob Delaney, Guz Khan, Maria Bakalova, Fred Armisen, Kate MacKinnon, Daisy Ridley, John Lithgow, James McAvoy, Vir Das, Nick Kocher, Keegan Michael-Key, David Duchovny, Fred Armisen, Kate MacKinnon, Daisy Ridley, John Lithgow, James McAvoy.
Directed by Jud Apatow.
The Bubble is an American spoof, cowritten and directed by prominent director of comedies, Jud At the tail, (featuring his wife, Leslie Mann, and his daughter, Iris). It was covid-19 and lockdowns that were the inspiration for this comedy, how to make a film during lockdown, how to keep the cast and crew in an isolated bubble, the dire consequences – and the comic implications.)
The Bubble will not be to everyone’s taste, even to those who admire the director, and those who enjoy spoofs. At 126 minutes, it does seem rather long – it needs to be sharp and punchy. There is enjoyment in the range of the cast, the sending up of the International hotel staff at the mansion in England where they are all housed. There are temperamental stars and their tantrums. There is the desperate director trying to see the sunny side of everything. There are agents, marriage mixups, executives (including Kate MacKinnon John Lithgow), an end guest spot by James McAvoy, the sound engineers, the photographers, and two of the cast who are dressed neutrally, up on ropes, who portray all the monsters and villains, intercutting with the actors who are all performing in front of the green screen.
The film being made is the sixth of a series of action adventures featuring explorers, confrontations with the dragons – the director having to cope with the complaints of an actor producer, played by David Duchovny who does not exhibit such talents for this kind of spoof, and the actors’ tantrums, with some message about preservation of animals. Amusing, but not particularly funny.
Perhaps the best thing is to make more precise who will enjoy this film. For audiences who do not like spoofs, they are out. For audiences who like some subtlety and irony in their spoofs, there is only a very limited amount of irony here. For those who are not interested in filmmaking, especially under very difficult circumstances, out. For those who do not like action adventures with dinosaurs and dragons, out. For those who think American comedy is far too broad, this will be not to their liking.
Which, in fact, leaves a very limited audience, even among well-wishers to the director and the cast. The Bubble was sponsored by Netflix – which means that it does have quite an outreach.
