Invasion Judd Apatow in his trinity as director, screenwriter and producer, he, not without harshness (those that come from his production without going further), envisioned a renewal of the American comedy of the 2000s. From the more or less sentimental, romantic or family films that populated the genre, it gained momentum – and with commercial success – to more personal, intimate themes, a Peter Pan portrait of more or less mature human relationships recalled. refusal. This is the basis of the director An embarrassing mess, If it were easy, Virgin at 40 and even recent district kingwhere he relatively distanced himself from his inner world in order to delve into a kind of miserabilism.
bubblehis multi-star film Netflix conceived and filmed during the pandemic, it seems like a retreat, a kind of bracket on Apatovskoye Highway. A meta-fictional fugue in which Apatow portrays the chaotic filming of the blockbuster Beasts of the Rock 6 (!), as well as the rather self-absorbed and goofy nature of the actors involved.
The result, instead of a path of fresh air, could not be more unequal, since, as expected of Apatov, he cherishes great comic moments through his ability to direct and force his actors to improvise… but, at the same time, reinforces the impression of a minor dramatic development or his absence, creating a film that, as it moves forward, does so with editing room hacks, without the near-epic concept of its choral comedy (and contemporary Hollywood critique).
bubble That’s why it remains a rarity, made up of gags curated in impossible dialogues, delusional ideas (that a Betis player locked himself in with the actors…) who don’t know how to move forward. The bubble itself, which Apatow didn’t use to polish his narrative, shows the same malice when it comes to parodying Hollywood as it does when it comes to showing misery, such as a forty-year marriage, sometimes drifting towards incoherent. And, in the end, a missed opportunity for an interesting offering to be swallowed up by Netflix’s endless hole, relegated to the depths of its catalog.
It all escalates over the course of more than two hours, which is almost an inborn state in New York cinema, but in this case it matters too much due to the lack of a clear protagonist, a definite psychology. If Karen Gillan is (more or less) the protagonist, then secondary characters such as Pedro Pascal, David Duchovny or Leslie Mann take on that role, where yes, the author manages to introduce secondary characters such as Harry Trewaldwyn. or Maria Bakalova, the fictional “daughter” of Borat. In the end, no matter what, bubble it is a film that is watched more with curiosity than with sincere pleasure.