Bubble Boy (2001)
Reviewed by Tangento
Director: Blair Hayes
Producer: Beau Flynn
Screenwriters: Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio
Stars: Jake Gyllenhall, Swoosie Kurtz,
Marley Shelton, Verne Troyer,
Fabio
Rating: PG-13
Distro: Buena Vista
Run Time: 84 mins.
Bubble Boy (2001) VHS
Bubble Boy (2001) DVD
IMDB Entry
Nitpicker's Page
Bubble Boy is a hilarious film, crammed full of outrageous absurdities and loaded with sight gags & jokes mired in utterly bad taste.
Like I said: Great Film.
The plot finds our protagonist Jimmy Livingston or the 'Bubble Boy'
living his young life in a sheltered bubble-bedroom existence forced upon
him by his fanatically over-protective mother, played to the gills
by the delightful Swoosie Kurtz.
Livingston's character is played out with a marvelous
combination of wide-eyed innocence and impish poise by young actor
Jake Gyllenhaal.
(Donnie Darko, The Good Girl, Highway, etc.)
If not for his performance, this film might easily have failed miserably.
For similarities' sake, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to someday see this guy paired as a younger brother
to thespian up-and-comer and perennial website favorite
Mike Patton.
As Jimmy's lost boyhood fades away,
we find him falling in love with the new neighbor girl Chloe,
(the delicious Marley Shelton )
...but never allowing his feelings to be known - until it's too late.
This prompts drastic action, as she is off to be married to
a Mullet-Man at Niagra Falls, an entire continent away.
He quickly builds himself a makeshift Porta-Bubble, bounces out of
the house for his first-ever trip outside, and the film is up and running.
In one of the strangest cross-country odysseys ever filmed,
Jimmy encounters an endless array of oddballs, freaks, misfits and fanatics.
In one comical yet disturbing sequence, his bubble is knocked hurtling
through the air by his own parent's car, sending him 'bouncing' directly through
the open doors of a moving train full of sideshow freaks on tour.
(led, of course, by the 2 foot 8" Mini-Me himself, Verne Troyer )
The casting here was a totally No B.S. endeavor.
The people in that train are the real deal, and I'm sure this
contributed to the low rating given this film, probably by a
bunch of ballyhooing PC apple-polishers screaming "EXPLOITATION !! " or some such nonsense.
All of these so-called freaks turn in uproariously funny, yet believable and sympathetic performances.
This off-kilter film continues along on in this vein, and is partially highlighted
with a droll, campy cameo by none other than Fabio, as a religious cult leader
who reveals the Messiah to his minions as a guy in a bubble - via
an 'ancient' pictograph on a rock. Someone certainly had the creative
wheels turning on this film, and this once again proves that a
morally imposed 'One Star' or corporate 'Thumbs Down' rating is no substitute for an objective,
fun-loving movie-goers opinion.
I will need to pay more attention next time, but I like what I heard. INFO
Best Catch-Phrases/ Quotes:
1. "Figh Hundah Dollah!! " ... "Figh Hundah Dollah!!! "
2. "I'm gonna go steal some quarters from that blind lady. "
3. "Yes, the Round One! A holy messenger trapped in a living globe. We must find him and release him so that he will carry us, the only true believers, to the Kingdom of Heaven, while those who reject him will mutate and burn eternally on Planet PX41, and Planet PX42 if they run out of room. Now, if there are no further questions, let's move on to the buffet. " - (Fabio's 'Gil' )
4. (more to come; this film has plenty)
Click for the
Official Bubble Boy site