Customer Reviews

Bubble Boy (Widescreen)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

OK, one thing is for sure. If Jake Gyllenhaal had not been able to carry this movie, it would have been the worst piece of cinema ever created. But he plays the role of Jimmy, Boy in the Bubble with such wide-eyed childish, ecstatic fervor that just his facial expressions are occasionally hysterical (especially in an early scene where he attempts to pay for a bus ticket). You will either find him wildly endearing, or about as annoying as Stewart Smalley. So, this will NOT be a film suited to everyone's tastes.

Jimmy busts out of his plastic room into a plastic bubble to make a cross-country trip from CA to NY to stop the marriage of a girl he's in love with. Basic story, heard it all before. What's funny about it is the bevy of characters he meets along the way, all of whom are willing to help him, but Jimmy manages to insult them with his naivete, lack of manners and social grace. However, they all somehow become enraptured with him and end up trailing him and trying to fight each other off to his Niagara Falls destination.

The movie is made apparently in association with Disney, though it does seem to play more like an intentionally campy film intended for individuals a little older than the Disney crowd. I, for one, thought the movie looked idiotic and the title doesn't suggest a whole lot of entertainment, just a load of crap... but it really is an interesting piece of work that has the energy of a salsa dancer on speed built right in. Plus, how can you resist Jake Gyllenhaal? He's so damn cute. Plus, look for outrageous turns by Verne Troyer, Swoosie Kurtz and Fabio.

I bet if you haven't seen this movie, you probably think it looks very stupid. Afterall, it didn't gain alot of momentum at the box office and who knows-- maybe you haven't even heard of this movie until recently. I'm telling you right now, point blank and honest to god, this movie is fantastic. To be honest, I had my reservations, but I bought this movie not knowing what to expect and am very happy with it.

It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Jimmy, a boy who is confined to a bubble because he was born without any immunitites. He lives day to day stuck in his room eating his moms germ-free, fat-free cookies, and while you'd think he'd be bored out of his mind, he comes up with ways to stay entertained, like played the theme from "Land of the Lost" on his guitar. Then Chloe moves next door, and from then on he's hooked. When she tells him one day that she's getting married and then leaves for Niagra Falls, Jimmy gathers up his courage and leaves the confines of his bubble room in his new bubble suit.

He meets alot of interesting characters along the way, like the Bright and Shiny Cult, a maniac on a motorcylce, and a group of circus freaks. It seems like it would be too much going on, but it's really not, it keeps the movie flowing and provides alot of laugh factors.

This movie may be a bit "out there," but not so far away that alot of different people who like alot of different movies won't be able to enjoy it. I think everyone would like this movie if they gave it a shot and watched it. And if not, that person isn't much of a movie person afterall if he can't find something to like about this charming movie.

I recommend this to everyone. It doesn't matter who you are, this movie is worth seeing, even if it's just for the sake of saying, "Yeah, I saw that one." But honestly, there's alot to love about this film. See it!

I am a guy who is well into my 30s. As a consequence I thought that there would never be a movie that would make me laugh as much as the movies when I was a kid. I was wrong.

The first time I was even AWARE that there was a movie called Bubble Boy it was when I saw the DVD jacket. My initial thought was "This movie MUST be crap." It starred a lot of young actors whom I wasn't familiar with as well as some I hadn't heard of in years. I didn't think about it again until one night it was on one of the movie channels and I figured "why not?". I haven't laughed so much at a movie certainly in recent memory and maybe EVER.

Jake Gyllenhaal does a FANTASTIC job in this movie as Jimmy. Jimmy is forced to make a trek across country in his portable bubble to save his girlfriend Chloe (Marly Shelton) from marrying the mullet headed Mark. Every step of this journey is a SCREAM, from the surly Bus Depot attendent to the hundred year old cab driver "Pappy". Each character is played with great talent.

The big star in this movie is Gyllenhall. As Jimmy he is a wide eyed innocent that you just CANT help but love. He's beaten, he's abused and his bubble takes some serious punishment yet he goes on smiling all the way. Anyone who doesn't like Jimmy probably hates puppies and pulls the wings off of flies. Marly Shelton, as Chloe, is the kind of girl any guy would love. She's sweet, pretty and just all around adorable.

Another big star of this movie is the music. I can almost guarantee you will find something you recognize as it delves into music from today and back into the 70s!

Bottom line is you will like Bubble Boy. Most of you will LOVE Bubble Boy. Its a very very silly movie. It has absolutely NO redeeming social value.... but its HYSTERICAL. There was Caddyshack.. there was Animal House and there is Bubble Boy. Check your IQ at the door and just relax! :)

This movie really suprised me. You really want to root jimmy on. Here is a kid who is born with a horrible disease, and he overcomes that just so he can live life and pursue love. I found the bubble to represent more what holds us all back and we need to break out to live life to its fullest. Some will get offended by some of the stereotypes. But, in the end, you really love all the characters and they all care about each other. If you liked films like, Saving Silverman or Old School, this might be for you.

Perhaps this movie is the funniest movie I've seen, perhaps not. What if I say it's funny, and you buy it, and you don't agree? It could happen.

I mean, comedy is a delicate, perishable, personal thing. Those old Saturday Night Live's I loved when I was a kid? ...no longer funny. Chris Rock? Funny to me, offensive to my parents. As for movies, Undercover Brother might be a better movie, or Galaxy Quest. School of Rock was good. To me, that is. At the time. So, while we all can agree that the best cooking is undisputedly Italian, agreeing on a good comedy DVD is difficult.

Amazon and it's amazing, revolutionary customer reviews go a long way toward avoiding bad products, music, and movies. Customer reviews have led me to things I never would have found, and steered me clear of others. It's like a power-to-the-people consumer reports! I love these reviews. But on movies... especially comedies, I'd get a second opinion from rottentomatoes.com, just to be safe. This movie rated 30% on the tomato meter. That's 30 out of a perfect 100, the composite opinion of a whole bunch of movie critics - whose job it is to have strong opinions.

So what does it mean? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! They rated "Spirited Away" highly, and my family hated it. They rated "Finding Nemo" highly, and my family loved it. It's all in the eye of the beholder (at the particular moment of beholding). Of course, that's just my opinion.

I first saw this movie as a sort of mistake- you know when you sit down, turn on the tube, and a movie you never heard of is just starting. I was close to turning it off several times but something always stopped me. I mean, who wants to see a movie about some poor kid that has to live in a bubble? Sounds very depressing.

The movie starts off kind of slow but then begins one insanely funny scene after another. I won't bore you by previewing the scenes. I know this movie will not appeal to everyone. But if you laughed a lung out watching the bean eating scene in Blazing Saddles, then this movie is for you. Slapstick- yes! Close to offensive-yes, at times. Dumb moments- of course. There is no way to write a movie like this without them.

So if you want to sit down for an hour or so of some good laughs, watch this movie. Even better, if you have friends with a sense of humor like yours, watch it together for the first time. You will have lots of fun laughing together. Enjoy. GC

this movie is one of the funniest movies i've ever seen. trust me it's worth it.

I remember seeing the previews of this 2 years ago, and thought it was just the usual dumb comedy. Eventually, I got drug along to see it and was expecting to hate it. But within the first 15 minutes, I was laughing harder than I did when I saw...well, anything funny. Bubble Boy is the story of Jimmy, who lacks immunities, and has to live in a plastic bubble in his room. His mom is a super Christian, and tells him that pretty much everything is a sin, even referring to the new girl that moved in as "the whore next door". So he grows up with all these dumb rules set in mind. Thanks to the "whore next door", Jimmy starts to fall in love with her, even if he can only stay in his bubble. She's really nice to him, and starts to love him too.

Well...until her mullet-sporting hick boyfriend asks her to marry him...and she says 'yes'. They're off to Niagara Falls to get married, and it's up to Jimmy to stop the wedding. He builds his own bubble suit to get there. Man oh man does it get crazy once he leaves home. He meets up with a Mexican biker who says Jimmy has the right to "cut the vato", a cult lead by Fabio called Bright And Shiny, circus freaks, a Hindu ice cream man, and a cab driver named Pappy who lost his wife- Poon Tang.

This movie is all around fun. I've never laughed so hard when watching anything as I have Bubble Boy. From Jimmy's parents writing a ransom note so the police help them find him-

"'Dear Mr. and Ms. Livingston, we have kidnapped your son. Give us $10,000 dollars or he dies. Signed, the Jews.' Are you kidding? ARE YOU KIDDING? Who in their right mind is going to believe this note Morton? THEY'RE THE JEWS! THEY'RE GOING TO WANT MORE THAN $100,000!"

Everything blends together so well without ever trying to be offensive. The special features are a little lack luster, but I guess that's ok since the movie's so great, and it left theaters so quickly because of "how offensive" it was. There aren't too many special features. Just the commentary with Jake and the director, a feature on building the Bubble Suit, production pictures, Bright and Shiny sing along, story boards for the Niagara Falls scene, and the director's diary. That sounds like a fair amount, but they're all pretty short.

This movie isn't making fun of people with the condition, it's making fun of the people that freak out about it (as the director in the commentary says). So get this if you're in the mood for a laugh or something refreshing. If this movie hadn't come out, I would've made it. It's like everything I do comics about was put onto film. *thumbs up* *theme from Hawaii Five-O plays*

Usually I try and give movies the benefit of the doubt, I really do try. This one just didn't make me laugh. There are bad movies that you can watch and still like. Then there are movies that are so bad they make you want to cry. I didn't laugh at the movie I laughed at its attempts to be funny.

Overall-Think of this movie as a vampire and me as the vampire hunter. If the occasion ever arose for the oppunity for me to hunt this monster there are several things I would do

1. Drive a steak through the movie's heart(in this case represented by a vampire)
2. Cut off its head
3. Dismember the body, burn the pieces and then scatter the ashes at a crossroads so that it would do no harm to the viewing public ever again.

Bottom line Save your money

Bubble Boy (Blair Hayes, 2001)

It is easily predictable in the general scheme of all things Hollywood that Blair Hayes' career will be short, nasty, brutal, and fraught with frustration. After all, you can't make a movie that transcends everything about its genre and expect to get any work in Hollywood that doesn't get thrown to you with the scraps from the tables of such conventionalists as Spielberg.

Bubble Boy, when it came out, had the look of a generic, utterly stupid Hollywood comedy, and I avoided it for that reason. I've seen enough David Spade and Jim Carrey movies to last me a lifetime, thank you. But after seeing Jake Gyllenhaal's Oscar-worthy performance in Donnie Darko, and connecting him with the lead role here, I had to go back, trepidations in hand, and watch this.

It's brilliant.

Gyllenhaal plays Jimmy Livingston, the three sttoges-esque flip side of John Travolta's Tod Lubtich (the main character of smarmy 1976 made-for-TV movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble). Born without normal immunities, Jimmy has been confined to a completely germ-free plastic room by his religious-nut mother (Swoosie Kurtz [Sisters], in a role I don't know how they convinced her to take) and doormat father (John Caroll Lynch of Waking the Dead and The Drew Carey Show). Jimmy has it bad for Chloe (Marley Shelton, soon to be seen in Boondock Saints: All Saints Day), but figures nothing can come of it; after all, he's in a bubble, right? She decides to marry the wrong guy, however, and Jimmy's only course of action is to hop into a portable bubble and get from Palm Springs to Niagara Falls before the wedding.

Yes, it's really that dumb, and in the hands of a stock comedy director, one would expect another Dumb and Dumber or Black Sheep. But Hayes knows his films, made risky but perfect casting decisions, added in subtle sight gags and references to everything from The Graduate to A Fistful of Dollars, and above all allowed the actors to rise above the supremely silly script to turn this into a sort of Grand Guignol version of Punch and Judy. No cow is too sacred to be eaten (or run over by a Hindu-driven ice cream van), no religion too untouchable to be trampled, no comedy convention too untouchable to be subverted. Hayes makes as much fun of the movie himself as do the critics of most badly-done comedies. Consider it a pre-emptive strike, and one of sheer genius.

There aren't enough good things to say, as well, about the actors in this movie. Gyllenhaal is a revelation, but then if you've seen Donnie Darko, you already know that. Swoosie Kurtz, ho has spent a goodly portion of her career playing the kinds of characters on finds in Lifetime Original Movies™, completely breaks with tradition and plays a psychotic nutball with an unhealthy religious streak, and does it to the hilt. The always underrated Danny Trejo shows up, and probably says more in this movie than he has in his last ten combined. Verne Troyer (aka Mini Me) displays at least ten times the talent he did in the Austin Powers movies. Etc., etc. I could go on all day.

If you avoided this one because you thought it was just another stupid comedy from Hollywood, give it another thought. It's stupid, and it's from Hollywood, but nothing about it is just another anything. ****