Despite being very plauding and somewhat unengaging this film is incredible. Not for most-and if one goes in with any need for help from the filmmaker to make sense of this movie than forget it, because Soderbergh is not helping you. This is life filmed. Everything about it rings true. When I say true, I don't mean in a "what does it all mean" way but in a that is exactly what life in a small, poor, white, boring town is like. No musical cues, no punch ups, no indicators, nothing that a conventional mystery is-this film is about people frozen. And it works with icy precision.… Expand

A flim for the head more than for the heart. Perhaps one of the most authentic American films in its depictions of rural, working-class life but everything about the movie felt so pre-ordained I had litte emotional connection to what was happening on screen.

I’m a Soderbergh fan (in general). I return to OUT OF SIGHT, THE LIMEY, and SEX, LIES & VIDEOTAPE routinely. If Soderbergh hadn't directed this picture, I’d say -- because it was so crudely made, acted, conceived -- it belonged to that canon of 3rd World-y AMERICAN films such as THE DELTA, GO FISH, THE STRAIGHT STORY, ELEPHANT, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER; movies made by super substandard tho thoroughly American filmmakers from the real heartland of ignored working class. Instead it was an incredible facsimile. But why? It’s a mystery. Clearly, filmmakers have been emulating documentary-like craftsmanship for years (shaky-cam, surveillance-like long lens shooting, jump cuts), but this was purposeful fly-on-the-wall-ness filmmaking to the -nth degree as if made by someone who didn't know and couldn't do better. It’s a very strange new genre, I must say. What should it be called? Retro-crude? It reeked of Exercise, but it must have had another purpose stylistically and deconstructively. I’d love to hear his explanation. In the mean time, I’m without a clue. Otherwise, it was a simple -- and excruciatingly tense at times -- drama that calculatedly shuffled all the way to the edge of the proverbial cliff and then at that defining crucial moment seemed only to spit off the side. Definitely see it, and since it's already come out on video, that should be as simple as the filmmaking itself.… Expand

this is one of the most boring movies i have ever seen - including my in-laws' vacsation videos!

I found this film to be very absorbing- the tone is very flat in a way that is completely fascinating. It seems like a cross between an Erroll Morris film and a Jeff Wall photograph, but the stylization does not reduce the presence of the actors. Laser sharp and refreshingly different.

Simple. Flat. Short. GREAT! When you get to the end, you want more but can walk out of the theater satisfied because anymore would be superfluous and spoil the emotion of the film. And that was some shady stuff how Rose took Kyle's money.

BUBBLE may lapse into psychodrama, but it is also a remarkably accurate picture of how many people live in Middle America. Sophisticated city audiences may snicker at these "hicks," but the majority of ordinary Americans will recognize themselves and hoiw they live. Whether they will welcome what they see is problematical, but BUBBLE is well worth seeing, if only for the fact that the characters (mostly non-professionals, in dead-on if flat and prosaic portrayals) actually WORK for a living. How often do we see that in an American movie lately?… Expand

One critic said that this movie is "Easier to admire than love", and I think that sums it up nicely. This is a film school exercise, not a movie that could ever appeal to general audiences. I agree that the technique is interesting, particularly the factory sequences, but even a well-made movie about a boring subject is still boring. I would only recommend this film to hard-core cinemaphiles. And finally, can someone explain why it's called "Bubble"? Deliberately obscure crap like that annoys me.… Expand