The Bubble

In addition to assembling a stellar ensemble cast, The Bubble occasionally combines sincere moments of humorous genius with the chaotic intensity of pandemic filmmaking. David Duchovny and Leslie Mann create genuine chemistry as a quarreling divorced couple confined together in quarantine, while Guz Khan and Fred Armisen steal moments with their quirky characters thanks to Judd Apatow's loose, improvised style. The film's best sequences lean into the absurdity of its premise—TikTok dance montages, an incompetent COVID safety officer, and the increasingly desperate attempts to maintain production on a ridiculous franchise film provide intermittent laughs. The satirical jabs at Hollywood self-importance and the industry's rush to resume production during a global crisis land with occasional precision, and the sheer spectacle of watching recognizable stars goof off in a lavish English manor carries a certain infectious energy.

The film's 126-minute runtime, however, highlights the film's lackluster content by turning what could have been a succinct 90-minute comedy into a tiresome test of cliched jokes and undeveloped subplots. The COVID humor is out of date and frequently offensive, using the pain of a pandemic that is still going on to make cheap jokes about nose swabs and quarantine procedures that never quite reach the scathing satire the concept calls for. The majority of the characters—the TikTok star, the method actor, the health guru—remain one-note sketches devoid of the emotional nuance and storylines that usually distinguish Apatow's best work. The fictional Cliff Beasts sequences meant to parody blockbuster filmmaking fall flat, looking intentionally terrible without being funny enough to justify the screen time devoted to them. Ultimately, The Bubble squanders its stellar cast and timely premise on a shapeless, self-indulgent exercise that confuses celebrity cameos and improvisation for genuine comedy, delivering a disappointingly hollow experience that neither captures the collective pandemic experience nor successfully satirizes it.

Staff:

Directed by: Judd Apatow

Written by: Judd Apatow and Pam Brady

Produced by: Judd Apatow

Starring: Karen Gillan, Vir Das, Pedro Pascal, Iris Apatow, Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Leslie Mann, Kate McKinnon, Peter Serafinowicz, Guz Khan, and Harry Trevaldwyn

Cinematography: Ben Smithard

Edited by: Dan Schalk and James Thomas

Music by: Michael Andrews and Andrew Bird

Production company: Apatow Productions

Distributed by: Netflix

Release date: April 1, 2022

Running time: 124 minutes