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Bubble
Magnolia Pictures


6.5

based on 32 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 16 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for some language

Starring Debbie Doebereiner, Dustin James Ashley, Misty Dawn Wilkins, Omar Cowan, Laurie Lee, David Hubbard, Kyle Smith, and Decker Moody

In this unique cinematic experiment from acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh, an unlikely love triangle is born at a doll factory in a small midwestern town fallen on hard times. (Magnolia Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Coleman Hough
DIRECTED BY:	Steven Soderbergh
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 31, 2006 Theatrical: January 27, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	90 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Of the idiosyncratic ''little'' movies that Soderbergh has made to clear his head (Full Frontal, Schizopolis), this is the first that truly connects.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Everything about the film -- its casting, its filming, its release -- is daring and innovative.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Soderbergh and screenwriter Coleman Hough aren't interested in creating a coy whodunit so much as evoking the deeper, less romantic mysteries of people -- and it's riveting.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine

Bubble is a strong film with a gorgeously minimal script by Coleman Hough. Soderbergh has directed his actors to perfection, rendering them indistinguishable from their roles. And, though the story resorts to sensationalism for its conflict, the film is eloquent in its portrayal of silence, depression, repression, denial and the woes of the Midwestern white working class.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A potent and provocative look at life unhinged. Bubble is said to be the first in a series of six low-budget films from Soderbergh. If they all rock the boat like this one, bring 'em on.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Soderbergh does overemphasize the "little-people" dreariness of it all. But there is much low-key humor here, too, albeit on the dark side.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Easier to admire than love, Bubble is a fascinating exercise that seems calculated to repel most audiences, which probably suits Mr. Soderbergh just fine.

Time Richard Corliss

The film doesn't judge or prod its characters, just watches the long fuse of the plot dwindle, then explode.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Starting off as a low-key psychological drama, this suddenly turns into a murder mystery that's resolved awkwardly and ambiguously, but the fascination of the characters and milieu remains.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

It's reassuring to see Steven Soderbergh return to riveting down-and-dirty filmmaking with Bubble.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The film manages to be an intriguing, grimly entertaining, strangely haunting little slice of heartland noir very much in the experimental tradition of such previous Soderbergh oddities as "Schizopolis" and "Full Frontal."

USA Today Claudia Puig

Bubble is a haunting film, made all the more intriguing by the use of ordinary people, not actors, in all the roles.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Simply too odd and unconventional to ever appeal to a broad audience, either at the multiplex or on home video.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

In movies this deliberately paced, the line between fascination and boredom is a fine one, easily crossed. Fortunately, Bubble stays on the right side of that line.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

An odd little movie and a good one, worthy for what it is and potentially groundbreaking for how it's being made available.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Despite its refreshingly straightforward style and compelling performers, the movie feels encased in an invisible, filmy membrane of its own. Soderbergh keeps his characters on one side of the wall and his audience on the other. As to which is living in the real world, I guess that's open to discussion.

The New Yorker David Denby

Strange and off-putting, and hard-nosed types in the film business will no doubt dismiss it as a nothing. But, even if Bubble hasn't brought down the Bastille, the movie is far from nothing.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

It's almost condescending, as though Soderbergh were challenging himself to make Middle America interesting. And yet the movie IS interesting, almost in spite of itself.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Bubble is a stunt in search of a movie, and it almost finds one.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Ultimately, Bubble is less important as a film than as an experiment in simultaneous cross-platform film distribution.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

One of the more interesting low-budget experiments Steven Soderbergh has indulged in between flashy Hollywood entertainments.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Bubble is the moviemaking equivalent of the worst narrative journalism. Every bit of "human interest" is so painstakingly planted, so determined to be applauded for its observation and sensitivity, it ends up seeming as slick and bogus as the worst Hollywood blockbuster.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Worth seeing, even if you're as ambivalent about it as I am. Its strength is in the way the drama creeps up on you.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The experience is interesting, in a flattened way.

Variety Deborah Young

Likeable if unexciting little tale.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

The story is so flat and transparent in the telling, so empty of psychological mystery and depth, it skates dangerously close to condescension.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

The three stars are all perfectly naturalistic, but their roles are too bloodless and their patter too dry.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

I'd rate Bubble at no better than a C-plus for artistic achievement and a D-minus for audience appeal. In one sense, it accomplishes its goals efficiently by making you feel, in less than 80 minutes, as if you've gotten permanently trapped in the dead-end, trailer-park lives of its working-class characters. I've never been so grateful to get out of a theater, turn my cellphone back on and plug myself into a $4 Starbucks latte.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Likely to be remembered more for its method of manufacture and release than for any inherent qualities of its own. It will also become one of the many fascinating footnotes in the always provocative career of Steven Soderbergh.

Film Threat Phil Hall

Bubble is among his (Soderbergh) worst films. What in the world was he thinking with this?

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

An embarrassment to all concerned, the film was written, directed and produced by Soderbergh for reasons that are not readily apparent.

Slate Stephen Metcalf

So brutal a negation of the popcorn aesthetic is liable to be mistaken for artistic courage. A grindingly slow pace, a quarter-baked plot, a semidocumentary focus on the lives of the working poor: It's enough to make you whimper "Matt Damon" in defeat.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 16 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Edward V. gave it a1:
I am disabled and have watched a lot of movies over the last 15 years. I have registered over 1,000 reviews on the netflix site in the last 3 years alone, and i have to say that Bubble is the most boring, dull, piece of crap I've ever seen.I am very angry at having wasted my time watching this exercise in futility. I rented it because Roger Ebert called it a masterpiece. Comparing this movie to a masterpiece is like comparing grass growing to the Super Bowl. I don't know where his head was on this one, but I don't know if I'll ever trust his opinion again. I've been reading movie reviews for many years on many sites, but I've never seen one miss it this bad! If life isn't hard enough!

Mary W. gave it a1:
this is one of the most boring movies i have ever seen - including my in-laws' vacsation videos!

Kevin G. gave it a10:
“Bubble” is a brilliant little film from Steven Soderbergh (whose been slumming with those “Ocean’s” movies). Here he takes a painfully earnest look at life at a small town factory where two coworkers named Martha and Kyle have become friends (more to the liking of Martha than Kyle). There’s tangible pain as poor Martha asks to take Kyle’s picture. “You’re my best friend” she tells him and that’s only barely enough to make him willing to pose momentarily for her photo. The thin friendship gets further squandered when Rose, a more attractive and age appropriate friend for Kyle comes along and the two end up dating. What follows is a sad and tragic account of what the mundane routine of these people’s lives can drive a person to do. It’s startling, heartbreaking, and awkward in a way that makes everything feel all too real.

Jeff J. gave it a4:
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.

George R. gave it a7:
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.

Alex F. gave it a9:
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?

Ben K gave it a7:
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.

Bubble Magnolia Pictures

Bubble
Magnolia Pictures