The Bubble

Watched this film at Paris theater in NYC aka the Netflix Theater. Without spoiling much, I will just that this film is not very funny. Contrary, it's long, it's got too many characters, the storyline is very vague and confusing, and the jokes are not there. Judd Apatow was bragging about finishing the script in 8 weeks, and honestly it really felt so.

Seeing the stars in this and the writer/director it came from, I'm honestly stunned at how bad this was. The Bubble is an extremely tedious watch that has almost no genuine comedy in it. About an hour in, I realized the film must be close to over, but nope. There was over an hour more of the same jokes and same setting left to suffer through. It tries to be self-aware, however the ultimate irony is Judd Apatow casting his wife and daughter in this film while simultaneously trying to lambast how ridiculous Hollywood is.

Premise had a lot of potential. The cast are talented. The film is just not very good. It's poorly paced and the gags are flat. Could've been great with a rewrite that included actual jokes and slicker dialogue.

Not a good film by any measure.

Alright, let me break your bubble here.. I usually enjoy Judd Apatow's low-brow comedies, but this one reminds us of everything we hated about the early stages of the pandemic with added celebrity commentary. The humor didn't land for me most of the time, and even with a spectacular cast, the film never hits the highs you expect. It just gets by with a meandering screenplay that neither engages nor makes us root for any of its whiny, privileged characters. Well, Apatow's trying otherwise - he wants us to laugh at (and not with) everyone in the film industry dominated by corporate giants and larger-than-life characters. The pandemic was a bad phase, and no films needed to be made around that subject. Some fleeting flourishes aside (mostly from Pedro Pascal and a few cameos), The Bubble is honestly a letdown!

This film was not what I had hoped for. It had big stars, an acclaimed comedy director and a promising premise but it just fell short on so many levels.

The premise is about a bunch of actors and a film crew trying to make a movie during the pandemic and it starts off quite strong. I chuckled here and there, the writing was tighter and it had relatability when it came to the pandemic stuff. That's where I have to give it points, the satire was decent here but that's the only place I can give it points.

The acting, cinematography, music was all okay, nothing unexpected and everyone does their job well here.

It was the writing and the pacing that really brings this film down. Around 75% into the first act all the way until the credits rolled, I found myself zoning in and out of the film. This film could have been a 90 minute film or even shorter. 2 hours dragged the whole thing out and it felt like a chore to finish the film just to get it done with. There was a tongue in cheek ending which kind of makes up for a little bit of this by being self aware but even still it was very lacklustre. The jokes became very flat and I found myself have 0 reaction to any of it. Even the comic relief character was decent but they were under used and taken out of the film quite early on.

Alongside this, the characters are all uninteresting and with the flat jokes and dragged out narrative, there's nothing really to keep you watching.

Overall the film starts of good then slowly delves into a long drag.

P. S. The choreographed dances were feel good..it was one of the few instances in the film that uplifted it alongside the welcome cameos.