The Bubble

Judd Apatow’s nostalgic spoof of a franchise movie-in-lockdown already feels irrelevant, but it has its comic moments and revelations.

A lost world: Karen Gillan as Carol Cobb

A ‘bubble’ is an old-fashioned term used to describe a group of individuals who are expected to cohabitate while isolating during a pandemic. In this case, the group of individuals are collaborating on a $100m movie being shot “somewhere in England,” it being the sixth instalment in a franchise called Cliff Beasts. The entire concept now feels less relevant and timely than nostalgic, although it’s fun to be see well-known members of the Hollywood community undergoing the same humiliating procedures as did we all, with outsize cotton buds stuffed up their noses. In the words of leading man Sean Knox (Keegan-Michael Key): “During the pandemic I realised we’re all the same. I used to think I was special.” However, this close-knit family are unlike the rest of the human race in that they are constantly showered with praise, wildly overpaid and generally spoiled rotten. And now, during a global pandemic, their film (Cliff Beasts 6: Battle for Everest: Memories of a Requiem) is just one of two movies in production: “There’s us and there’s Tom Cruise.”

It’s an obvious parody of the Jurassic World franchise and is replete with in-jokes and starry cameos, which should keep a portion of the Netflix audience happy. But there are few things more dispiriting than watching a mediocre movie spoof an even worse one. The Bubble may seem more pertinent next year, but at the moment it feels oddly out of tune with the rest of moviedom, even if it sheds some light on the humungous task of directing a blockbuster during lockdown. After the desultory ‘Idris elbows’, hyperbolic flattery, demeaning nasal testing and two-week imprisonment in luxury apartments, the actors ready themselves for another chapter of popcorn repetition while stationed in a stately English home.

The real star Karen Gillan is, of course, the product of a franchise or two herself, having played Amy Pond in Doctor Who, the blue alien Nebula in six Marvel films and Ruby Roundhouse in the Jumanji movies. Here, she lands top-billing as Carol Cobb, an actress who took time off from the previous Cliff Beasts chapter and is now welcomed back with frosty resentment. In the interim, she starred in an Israeli-Palestinian drama that raised 4% on Rotten Tomatoes and is coerced into returning to her old role as “a film set is now the safest place on Earth”. But this shoot really does feel like a luxurious prison sentence with gung-ho security, fawningly insincere English production personnel and the Polish help. Much of the characterisation and acting is pretty hit-and-miss, with the accent more on the miss, with far too many co-stars trying to be self-consciously goofy. Pedro Pascal over-acts hideously as a sex-mad ‘serious’ actor, as does Guz Khan as an incessantly outraged Muslim, wheeled in for comic relief.

In amongst the pantomime, wise words sneak out, such as when Keegan-Michael Key states that “problems are just lessons in disguise.” And there’s an admittedly hilarious sequence in which cast members indulge in a spot of recreational acid when the Covid safety officer (Harry Trevaldwyn) transmogrifies into a famous British actor. David Duchovny: “Stop being Benedict Cumberbatch!”

David Duchovny is good value as the star of the film-within-the-film – an uncredited producer and “the guardian of the franchise” – who insists on re-writing his lines. As he confides, straight-faced, “I turn shit into gold.” There’s also good support from Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) as a wise-beyond-her-years hotel clerk, Iris Apatow as a TikTok sensation (100 million followers), who’s there to attract the younger demographic, and Galen Hopper as a human non sequitur, who turns out to be the daughter of the stunt coordinator.

But this is Karen Gillan’s movie and she is repeatedly funny without appearing to beg for a single laugh. Which is more than can be said for the film.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Cast: Karen Gillan, Pedro Pascal, Leslie Mann, Fred Armisen, Keegan-Michael Key, David Duchovny, Iris Apatow, Guz Khan, Maria Bakalova, Vir Das, Samson Kayo, Kate McKinnon, Peter Serafinowicz, Harry Trevaldwyn, Danielle Vitalis, Rob Delaney, Raphael Acloque, Chris Witaske, Galen Hopper, Ross Lee, Nick Kocher, Celeste Dring, Ben Ashenden, Alexander Owen, Daisy Ridley, John Lithgow, Austin Ku, John Cena, Beck, Donna Air, James McAvoy, Kathryn Drysdale. 

Dir Judd Apatow, Pro Judd Apatow, Screenplay Judd Apatow and Pam Brady, Ph Ben Smithard, Pro Des Mark Tildesley, Ed Dan Schalk and James Thomas, Music Michael Andrews and Andrew Bird, Costumes Lynsey Moore, Choreography Ryan Heffington. 

Apatow Productions-Netflix.
125 mins. USA. 2022. UK and US Rel: 1 April 2022. Cert. 15.