The pandemic lockdowns have impacted almost everyone differently, but writer, director, and producer Judd Apatow just took it and sat down to write a low-budget Jurassic Park takeoff as if he was being directed by Mel Brooks in the Heart of Covid would have been staged. This is Apatow on his feet, and his Netflix movie is, in short, a movie within a “bad movie” within a movie made during a pandemic. While it’s hit-and-miss in the gag department, it’s thoroughly wacky and somehow endearing, especially when it goes full TikTok.
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Inspired by quarantine in a “bubble,” whether it was the NBA playoffs or a movie production, Apatow came up with the idea of making a cheap action sci-fi copy of a movie like Jurassic Park, in this case the focus of battling flying Tyrannosaurus Rexes mankind in the umpteenth installment of a cheesy flick. The film in this movie is called Cliff Beasts 6 and is being coerced into production by the studio head (Kate McKinnon, who literally zooms in on her role) even as Covid rages on. Just as Apatow’s actual cast and crew had to do, this fictional production is locked up together in a British hotel while filming this Grade Z film. Having worked in several Cliff Beasts films, the cast, or most of them, aren’t the most collegial groups, and Apatow and co-writer Pam Brady milk the conflicts as best they can.
Apatow has directed some exceptional human-centric films, most recently The King of Staten Island, Trainwreck, This Is 40, Funny People, Knocked Up, and The 40 Year Old Virgin (still my personal favourite), but he has never made an effect. driven film, and the visual effects ILM came up with here are designed to be gloriously low-budget, which makes this whole venture go haywire, sort of a T-Rex meets TikTok.
The Bubble trailer: Judd Apatow’s Netflix comedy shows filming a dinosaur action movie during lockdown is no walk in Jurassic Park
But the ridiculous flying dinosaurs aren’t the only fun creatures here. The actors, all playing different types, are exquisite and there is plenty of room for satirical digs at Hollywood and those who live in it. Leading the cast is David Duchovny as Dustin, the quintessential action star but one with many opinions on the script while constantly trying to make this all an environmentally conscious film, and at odds with the director (an amusing Fred Armisen) in the process of a dopey indie prodigy who gets a chance to make a popcorn movie. Dustin has been married, divorced, remarried in a sexually charged on/off relationship with Lauren (the always gorgeous Leslie Mann), who also stars in this film and had at least one memorable, gross moment of her own.
Keegan-Michael Key is having fun as an actor with a “spiritual” side, while Pedro Pascal (Wonder Woman) is a new Oscar winner who appears to be getting involved for the paycheck. However, he quickly gets bored and takes drug trips with TikTok dance sequences that have to be seen to be believed. The TikTok angle is incorporated by hiring a phenomenon on the social media site called Krystal Kris (Iris Apatow), who has no acting experience but has a legion of followers, so a hoped-for box office pull. The dances that come out of it all are hilarious, and Iris has a big day with the character. My favorite is the sequence featuring a hip-hopping T-Rex, aided by this cast, which also features Karen Gillan as Carol, a “difficult” actress who takes center stage for much of it. The choreography here is clever, created by Sia Video mastermind Ryan Heffington and partner Shala Iwaskow.
Also in the big cast are Guz Khan as the actor who provides comic relief in the silly film; Maria Bakalova as Annika, who runs the hotel’s reception; Peter Serafindwicz as the film’s struggling producer; and newcomer Harry Trevaldwyn as Gunther, the film’s Covid compliance officer, perhaps a first in this pandemic era for any actor. He’s an insurgent.
Apatow seems in the mood to throw just about anything at the wall to see what sticks, and luckily this is a filmmaker who knows how to stick enough of it to give this two-hour-plus comic space enough space give reasons to try it out on Netflix when it starts streaming on Friday. Check out my video review of scenes from the film in the link above.
Are you planning to see The Bubble? Do let us know what you think.