The Bubble (2022)

The Bubble is a (sometimes funny) comedy film that tries to supply social commentary on a lot of things all at once.  Unfortunately, a few spoonfuls of comedy does not help the heaps of clunky commentary go down smoothly. Like many modern attempts at social commentary from well-meaning, mostly white or white gaze aligned, comedian writers, the film's humor sags under the weight of false neutralism. The film follows an assemble of characters as they are filming the sixth installment of a dinosaur movie franchise called “Cliff Beasts.” During the 100-million-dollar production of the movie, hijinks ensue as Covid-19 measures and character egos clash. Judd Apatow seemed to be aiming for commentary on the power and hypocrisy in Hollywood. The results are shapeless and better recalled for discussion after the fact. This is the rare good “bad” movie that is more efficient as a conversation starter than an entertaining watch. Judd Apatow and Pam Brady write and direct a professional, polished cinematic product. The actors are all professionals and work the threadbare script for what it is worth. David Duchovny even manages to make you forget about Agent Fox Mulder from the X-Files as he nails the depiction of the pompous actor rewriting the script in midshoot. From a technical lens, this movie is polished. The humor itself will be funny to a sizeable audience, so even on a commercial level, it will do well most likely. But, from a critical lens. . . For example, public outrage over a white actor (Carol) playing a character that is meant to be half Palestinian and half Israeli is glossed over. Apatow seems to want to show the clueless way these things happen. He has Carol confront her manager for encouraging her (over her own doubts) to play the character. The moment, however, becomes little more than an inciting incident. Carol literally never has an emotional arc, epiphany, or insight into the situation. Instead, Carol seems to just feel like the whole thing is unfair to her. Essentially, her career is on the rocks because people were upset about this portrayal, even though the movie was good. Carol is ridiculed by the other actors more for the film having a 4% on Rotten Tomatoes and bailing on "Cliff Beasts 5", than the sociopolitical implications of her actions. Zaki, a football player staying in the hotel with the cast, quite literally asks her if she is Palestinian or Israeli. After she replies no, he proceeds with a sexual come-on. Throughout the film, Carol's issue of whitewashing a character is given no real cinematic conversation. This is symbolic of the offhanded way the film treats serious topics. Brady and Apatow clearly were trying to critique the vapid Hollywood elite, lifestyle, power structure, and hypocrisy. It is just too bad that they took the focus away from that with so many subplots, sex scenes, and gross-out gags. One character quite literally holds a staff member's hand while he relieves himself on the toilet, while a female character is made to look like she urinated on herself out of fear for an extended shot. The interesting scenes where we see the CGI magic for the "Cliff Beasts" and the juxtaposition of the green screen and actors is lost in this concoction. There is so much potential movie industry commentary in the way the actors openly admit this is a cheap slogfest money grab and how the work conditions are asinine and problematic. But these moments become background and only brilliant on recall. I never thought about them while watching. I suppose that means the movie at least works on the subconscious level. The film unfolds like someone decided that we had to be "fair" to both sides of the sociopolitical storm around the pandemic. Unintentionally or not, we get a movie that paints social distancing, masking, and quarantines as useless measures that don't keep anyone safe. There is a stale joke about the actors getting influenza, and it being the "good virus." We get two montages showing the actors upset at 2-week quarantines. As they whine and protest angrily, the viewer can not help but notice the luxurious England mansion they are staying in, where they quarantine in lavish rooms and have their every need met by staff. It feels like Apatow is going for commentary on how these actors have been placed in danger of Covid-19 to film a vapid movie sequel, but the visual results are mixed.