Bubble Boy
Metascore
41 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 21
  3. Negative: 9 out of 21
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  1. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Foreman
    38
    Fitfully funny at best, it's a sophomoric, facetious road comedy.
  2. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    38
    It seems that in the movies, at least, there is a limit to how far low expectations can take you.
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  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    30
    Hard though this antic farce tries to be outrageous, its satirical jabs at American culture are obvious and juvenile, as is the use of Jimmy's plastic bubble as a goofy metaphor for fear of life.
  4. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Nick Rutigliano
    30
    The coke-fried gibbons behind Bubble Boy came to a trailblazing conclusion: The ideal filmic oddity is white, male, and -- a mother's deception notwithstanding -- perfectly healthy.
  5. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Lisa Alspector
    30
    This Farrelly brothers "hommage" replicates the mechanics of their work without echoing its spirit or complex tone, and many of the deliberate offenses fail to transcend mere exploitation.
  6. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    25
    The bubble-boy niche is thankfully small. John Travolta began his career playing one in a TV movie, but this movie will undoubtedly finish off the genre for good.
  7. New Times (L.A.)
    Reviewed by: Andy Klein
    20
    Nearly every attempt at humor in this witless, completely reprehensible "movie" is mean-spirited and stupidly conceived at the expense of some group that deserves better.
  8. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    10
    What a bummer! Certainly the meanest-spirited film ever associated with the Disney hallmark.
  9. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Bruce Fretts
    0
    After enduring only a few minutes of this shrill debacle, you'll feel more trapped in the theater than Jimmy is by his bubble.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.3 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 38 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 24
  3. Negative: 1 out of 24
  1. OneWhoKnows
    10
    The best soundtrack EVER! The best of the strangest comedies in history. I tried to find another movie by the author of Bubble Boy... nothing I could find works as well as this.
    Should be ranked as one of the best comedies (although I know it won't). Too many Napoleon Dynamite fans out there...    … Full Review »
  2. FelixQ.
    10
    I will defend this one unto the death. Well, maybe not *death*, but you get the point. I actually laughed out loud while watching it on my own, which doesn't happen often. I really am a sap for the puppy-dog eyes male leads, and this movie just scratches the itch in the hard to reach spot in he middle of my back. Metaphorically speaking, that it.… Full Review »
  3. jAbMaN
    10
    One of the best Jake Gyllenhaal movies I ever seen, following Donnie Darko. Great comedy and great acting in the process.
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