The Bubble review: Judd Apatow’s pandemic comedy pities the wrong people

Judd Apatow’s Netflix action-comedy The Bubble is the film no one wanted about the COVID-19 pandemic: It’s instantly dated, frustratingly oblivious, and painfully unfunny. Apatow, along with co-writer Pam Brady, attempt to mock a pandemic-era movie set. The pair grab their flashlights as they embark on an epic adventure through the colons.

The bubbleAccording to reports, he was inspired by the production Jurassic World: DominionThe film was shot in strict COVID protocol last year in the UK. But aside from occasional cracks from the supporting cast — as underappreciated here as their characters are in the movie —The bubble fails to really grasp the absurdity of a studio building an elaborate multi-million-dollar infrastructure so rich people don’t have to wear masks on set. Instead, Apatow and Brady take a “These times are hard on everybody” approach, naïvely expecting people quarantining in studio apartments to sympathize with celebrities who have live-in wellness consultants and massive manicured gardens where they could absolutely go out and get some fresh air if they wanted to. In short, it’s the “Imagine” video of movies.

Laura Radford/Netflix

Guardians of the Galaxy’s Karen Gillan stars as Carol Cobb, a B-plus-list star whose last film, Jerusalem Rising, bombed thanks to vicious reviews criticizing the extremely Caucasian Cobb’s portrayal of a half-Israeli, half-Palestinian woman. According to The bubbleThe problem, however, was not with the casting, but the criticisms. And so Cobb’s agent pressures her to return to the Jurassic Park-esque Cliff BeastsIn part five, she also abandoned her franchise. Cobb refuses, but she agrees for the sixth installment.

And so she’s off to a posh countryside resort in the UK, where after 14 days of quarantine, she reunites with co-stars Lauren Van Chance (Leslie Mann), Dustin Mulray (David Duchovny), Sean Knox (Keegan-Michael Key), and Howie Frangopolous (Guz Khan). They’re joined by new cast members Dieter Bravo (Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal), an Oscar winner slumming it in tentpole moviemaking, and Krystal Kris (Iris Apatow), a TikTok star who isn’t sure why she’s there, either. Mulray and Van Chance are both based off Jeff Goldblum’s real-world characters. Other characters are more common blockbuster types, such as the hard-talking soldier or the alien scientist.

But even bits that should be funny, like Pascal’s character’s ever-evolving accent in the film-within-a-film, land with a splat. The bubble The majority of the sequences are long and painful. Everyone is trying their hardest, producing zero laughter, much like trying to light a fire with two sticks made from wet glue. At times, it’s difficult to discern exactly what the joke was supposed to be: Someone is making a face, which means a punchline must have been delivered. What was the joke? It’s like watching a comedy whose humor depends on the nuances of an unfamiliar culture, except the language being spoken here is Hollywood navel-gazing.

Foto by Laura Radford/Netflix

There’s also a culture clash between sardonic British humor and broad American comedy. Peter Serafinowicz delivers withering performance in this film. Bonnes motsPedro Pascal and Pascal do sophomoric shit humor. Pascal’s character inThe BubbleHe is both a serial seducer as well as a dedicated psychonaut. But for filmmakers who pack this much sex and drugs into their movie, Apatow and Brady treat both with arm’s-length fridigity. This is bra-on, herky jerky sex. Then there are the drugs. The bubble’s depiction of a hallucinogenic trip is about as realistic as a ‘90s D.A.R.E. video, as Pascal climbs inside the smart mirror in his hotel suite and imagines he’s transformed into Benedict Cumberbatch. All of which goes along with the way Apatow and Brady don’t seem to have much experience talking to people who’d be fine staying in a fancy hotel for six months, especially if they got a million-dollar payday at the end of that stay.

Ironically, all the bits that are in this article are actually missing The bubbleThese are quite amusing and come from the Cliff Beasts 6Multiple characters described the script as “absolutely terrible”. (If the “bad” jokes are the only funny ones, what does that say about the “good” ones?) The film’s best gag comes when Kris leads a CGI dinosaur in a TikTok dance, a nod to Hollywood’s desperate attempts to keep up with a generation that doesn’t really care about Hollywood. By contrast, the digs at the film’s director, Sundance darling Darren Eigan (Fred Armisen), are curiously mean-spirited, given that multiple Apatow-produced projects have launched at that particular festival.

The bubble’s myopic point of view is summed up in the character of Carla (Galen Hopper), a teenage girl who explains her presence in the film as “My dad’s the stunt coordinator.” (Her father, played by John Cena, never actually shows up in person, appearing only on an iPad screen.) No other crew members penetrate the actors’ bubble, aside from Armisen’s Eigan and Serafinowicz’s harried producer Gavin. It’s as though the rest of the crew doesn’t exist at all, apart from in an isolated bit where they’re told they must remain masked at all times, and cannot touch the talent. Perhaps this is an opportunity to mock how COVID has exacerbated class-based onset divisions. Of course not: It’s a strained gag about people flirting with their eyes.

Foto by Laura Radford/Netflix

The bubble’s supporting cast is outstanding, counting Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’s Maria Bakalova and Our Flag Means Death’s Samson Kayo among the characters who work at the hotel where the Cliff Beasts 6 cast is “bubbling.” (The term is indeed used as a verb throughout.) All the minor characters try to do their best in their small roles. The only thing that is clear about the situation is the Cliff Beasts 6 cast’s apparently life-threatening cabin fever comes from “the help.”

Iris Apatow’s character brings some perspective to the story as well. She’s the most level-headed of the core cast, a regular girl from Indiana whose most Hollywood trait is her pushy stage mom, played by Maria Bamford via Zoom. (Brady created Bamford’s critically beloved, short-lived Netflix series Lady Dynamite which makes this film’s script all the more puzzling.) Kris’ relatability doesn’t make the three full-length TikTok dance sequences in The bubbleTo be more clear, it is impossible to pass the time faster. But at least Apatow’s love for his daughter brings a certain affection to the way the film treats the character, which balances out any “old man yells at cloud” humor about kids these days and their phones.

Apatow’s casting of his family used to be one of the more aggravating parts of films like It’s only 40 And Funny PeopleIt veered from self-indulgence to autobiography. The fact that his daughter’s role is the freshest part of The bubble shows just how stale this movie’s writing, performances, and perspective really are. The self-absorbed foibles and fame of those who are wealthy or famous in a pandemic can be tapped for humor. But for this film to speak to anyone who might have undergone any actual hardship during the past two years, its humor would have to take a much wider — and more self-effacing — view than The bubble. When someone is trapped in their bubble too much, this is what happens.

The bubbleNetflix now has it streaming.