'The Bubble' Review: Apatow's Pandemic Comedy Barely Outshines The Very Films It Mocks

In a cruel twist of fate, Judd Apatow’s new comedy attempts to poke fun at the heartless state of Hollywood blockbusters by falling victim to the very tropes he’s mocking.

Judd Apatow has been one of the biggest names in the studio comedy game for a long time now, and with his latest project The Bubble, he once again proves that his specific brand of humor is best left in the past. The film follows a group of eccentric actors and producers as they race against the clock to complete the sixth entry in a fictional film franchise called Cliff Beasts, all the while dealing with the trials and tribulations of working within a COVID bubble. And although Apatow successfully presents plenty of funny moments that comment on the lack of originality within Hollywood, the film as a whole is just as unoriginal and lifeless as those he condemns.

To start with the positives (of which there are admittedly few), The Bubble has a lot of interesting ideas about Hollywood and movie-making that it presents articulately and amusingly through this particular narrative. It doesn’t just use its COVID-inspired premise as a throwaway gag, but actually explores the difficulties and strains that the pandemic imposed upon the film industry. The jokes might not always be laugh-out-loud funny, but there’s a witty sense of satire running throughout the film that elevates The Bubble above some of Apatow’s earlier, more immature projects. And don’t be mistaken - there are plenty of childish and immature gags in this film, but the overall tone is much more considered than we’ve come to expect from the writer/director. Had the film fully committed to its satirical tone and ditched the throwaway quips and gags, it could have been a really interesting exploration of how movie-making has been impacted and damaged by COVID.

The Bubble features an all-star cast, boasting comedy legends Keegan-Michael Key and Fred Armisen alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest names like Pedro Pascal and Karen Gillan. And yet despite the talent and ability on display, the film fails at every turn to develop these characters into anything other than overblown caricatures of people. The comedy is so in-your-face and on-the-nose that it forgets to actually be funny, simply using its characters as vehicles to deliver jokes and neglecting to give them any sort of empathy or personality. It’s as though Apatow was so concerned with making his commentary clear that he prioritized that above else, including the progression of his narrative and the development of his characters. It leaves the film feeling like less of a complete story and more like a series of interconnected skits, all of which are somewhat entertaining on their own but never come together to form a complete whole. A film this unique and relevant shouldn’t be such a chore to get through, but its unfortunate lack of voice and personality leaves it as such.

There are also certain moments in The Bubble that are just so painfully unfunny that they become difficult to sit through. A particular sequence involving a motion-capture dinosaur doing a famous TikTok dance comes to mind, but that would only be one of several. It’s as though the film is completely unaware of who its audience is. Certain jokes like this seem to cater to a Gen Z audience, but the film simultaneously feels completely out of touch with what this generation actually looks for in a comedy. It’s a shame, because the film’s message is totally right - studio movies are becoming less and less original, and the only thing that mainstream audiences really care about going to theatres for is the new blockbuster franchise. But The Bubble does absolutely nothing to combat this, instead just giving audiences more reasons not to care about the latest original streaming releases.

In spite of the cast’s best efforts to elevate such a lackluster and unrefined script, The Bubble ends up being another pretty sizable misfire from both Apatow and Netflix - which is a huge shame. There was a time when Apatow’s name was associated with some of the most popular and mainstream comedies of the time, and now to see his latest movie relegated to streaming completely devoid of fanfare proves many of the arguments that he tries to make in the film. However, no amount of leniency can forgive what is ultimately a boring, uninteresting, often disheartening film that manages to both insult its audience’s intelligence and say almost nothing at exactly the same time. There was a lot of potential within The Bubble, and perhaps with a more refined script, stronger exploration of character and relationships, and a more empathetic and compelling director at the helm, the film could’ve been something great.

GRADE: [D]