Some people took up baking or knitting to keep themselves busy during the long days and nights of the early COVID lockdown. Judd Apatow grabbed a wad of Netflix cash and dumped The Bubble, a slapdash comedy with an abused talent embarrassment. The writer-director tries to dodge criticism of his painfully unfunny spoof of a pandemic film shoot by pointing out at both beginning and end that it’s a heroic effort to distract during troubled times. But this sloppy attempt to harness the anarchic improvisational energy of a Christopher Guest film ends up being rather irritating, especially after The King of Staten Island’s gentle charm.
Yes, it’s amusing to watch David Duchovny snort coke off Keegan-Michael Key’s bald head. But at some point, Duchovny’s character, a cocky actor with more loyalty to the sci-fi franchise he stars in than his adopted son, says, “I’m going to make this scene work. Because that’s what I do. I turn shit into gold.” Unfortunately, no one possesses the alchemical power to pull off this transformation with Apatow and Pam Brady’s tense script.
the bubble
The end result bursts upon arrival.
release date: Friday, April 1st
To water: Karen Gillan, Iris Apatow, Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova, Vir Das, David Duchovny, Samson Kayo, Keegan-Michael Key, Guz Khan, Leslie Mann, Kate McKinnon, Pedro Pascal, Peter Serafinowicz, Harry Trevaldwyn
Director: Judd Apatow
Screenwriters: Judd Apatow, Pam Brady
Rated R, 2 hours, 6 minutes
Is there anyone out there still laughing at cringe comedy centered around face masks and shields, swabs, social distancing, quarantine fatigue and failed Zoom calls? Watching The Bubble hammers home the realization that nothing ages faster than COVID humor. Seriously, we’re all so over it the silliness just grates. While a show like White Lotus took advantage of the pandemic restrictions to create something unique and original in a limited setting, Apatow’s film feels like a very tired wannabe Tropic Thunder.
The closest thing to the actual laugh is the opening setup of Cliff Beasts, the 23rd greatest action franchise of all time. As posters for this Jurassic Park clone of flying dinosaurs and the ragtag band of heroes who battle them light up on screen, we see the development from the original through Cliff Beasts II: Re-Extinction to Cliff Beasts 5: Space Fury’s slogan “It’s Their Moon Now”.
These graphics also introduce franchise stars Carol Cobb (Karen Gillan), Sean Knox (Key), Lauren Van Chance (Leslie Mann), Dustin Mulray (Duchovny), and Howie Frangopolous (Guz Khan).
When producer Gavin (Peter Serafinowicz) hastily prepares a sixth installment in a desperate bid to earn some money for a studio collapsing under the financial pressures of the pandemic, Carol is reluctant to accept. She skipped the previous part to play the half-Jewish/half-Palestinian lead (she’s neither) in a career alien invasion killer called Jerusalem Rising (I grinned at that clip) and is worried about bad blood with her cliff beasts co-stars. That turns out to be the least of her worries.
The titular bubble is the luxury country estate hotel and nearby studio in England, where the cast and crew will be isolating for the duration of the planned three-month shoot. This group includes clueless director Darren Eigen (Fred Armisen), a Sundance Award winner for Tiles of Love, which he shot on an iPhone 6 while working at Home Depot; Serious actor Dieter Bravo (Pedro Pascal), who slums for a quick buck; and Krystal Kris (Iris Apatow), a TikTok sensation whose 120 million followers the studio hopes to expand its audience.
While Iris Apatow is among the more appealing members of the crowded ensemble, in part because she’s one of the few who doesn’t constantly push herself too hard, Krystal’s primary role is to insert TikTok dance routines when the comedy falters.
The same goes for Beck, who shows up on one of several Zoom calls with studio head Paula (Kate McKinnon). While throwing mostly passive-aggressive threats at Gavin from various resorts around the world, Paula recruits Beck to bolster flagging morale as filming drags on. The Kool & The Gangs singer’s cover of “Ladies Night” provides another dance break for the cast. Other star cameos are scattered throughout, offering little beyond recognition.
The assumption seems to have been made early in The Bubble’s development that to simply throw a whole bunch of veteran comedy performers together and drive them crazy while their detention stretches would be both hysterical and relatable to the rest of us extensively numb from pandemic boredom. It is not. The jokes are weak, the improvisation is uninspired, the digs at high-maintenance actors are old, and the scenes from actual Cliff Beasts production fall short of the endearing quality of the best (or worst) Syfy schlock. There’s none of the wit, warmth, or lovingly skewering of genre tropes that make a film like Galaxy Quest so standout among sci-fi meta-parody.
Green screen was never the natural domain of Apatow’s comedy, and that won’t change that, despite a marathon credits list that would suggest far more impressive visual effects than anything shown. Even a solid John Williams-style score by Michael Andrews and Andrew Bird can’t breathe life into the ponderous sci-fi scenes on a burnt Everest.
There’s also a depressing lack of cohesion among the cast, whose keen comic talents are rarely integrated effectively. While Maria Bakalova has sweet moments as Dieter’s proposed hotel clerk and Harry Trevaldwyn is a pleasantly mischievous presence as an underqualified COVID protocol officer, they all appear to be in different films. In Another Universe, you can think of this film as the kind of sharply satirical microcosmic comedy that was a specialty of Robert Altman. But that would be a galaxy far, far away. One with actual storylines.
Apatow and Brady’s script amplifies the concern by having Gavin bring in an overzealous security guard (Ross Lee) to stop the mutinous actors from escaping. But this is no less of a comedy dead end than Sean’s lifestyle brand Harmony Ignite, or the rekindled romance and co-parenting of recently divorced couple Dustin and Lauren. The nominal thread running through it involves Carol’s attempts to rebel against studio tyranny and the resulting humiliating downsizing of her role while beefing up that of the younger, more bankable Krystal.
The big twist involves battered EPK guy Scott (Nick Kocher), who is forgotten for so much of the film that his triumphant redemption becomes just another desperate attempt to squeeze the whole mess into one story. None of this is more than half-baked sketch ideas in a film that is surprisingly unsuitable given the resources involved. The Bubble was meant to be a pandemic lark, a fun antidote to the virus. But it’s a cure for nothing.