"Bubble" is a precisely acted slice of life, the most unadulterated portrayal of human nature you can get without watching "The Real World." That said, real life can be pretty boring.
"Bubble" examines the stale lives of some rather unremarkable people in an underwhelming Midwestern town. We are introduced to Jake, a scruffy, lanky high-school dropout who lives in a trailer with his mother, and his co-worker Martha, a blank blob of a woman from your aunt’s knitting circle.
Jake and Martha live in a poor Ohio town seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and work at the local doll factory endlessly churning out identical plastic babies. Martha gives Jake rides to his other job after work. They have fast food for lunch every day. Their friendship is shallow, and they speak in small talk. You feel awkward for them.
In fact, the first 40 minutes of the film are largely small talk interspersed with selections from the understated acoustic soundtrack. Then a murder happens. But it is so de-sensationalized that you are barely roused enough from your slumber to groggily witness the empty conclusion.
There are times when you will relate to the characters in Bubble; they exude the familiar listlessness of the down and out.
Director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean’s Twelve) filmed it using an utterly deadpan minimalist style and cast ordinary people in the roles. When an inspector arrives at the scene of the murder, he is a real-life police inspector, and the debriefings he has with the witnesses are detailed and genuine.
"Bubble" is notable for its distribution: Soderbergh decided to release it on cable television and DVD simultaneously while it is in theaters.
There’s no discernable theme. If this film makes any statement about banal blue-collar America, it’s too obscured by monotony to stand out. "Bubble" is true to its name: a colorless, hollow venture that will abruptly disappear from your view without a trace.
A film student might appreciate the innovation in the direction and production of "Bubble," but anyone else is going to find it deathly dull. Either way, at a scant 73 minutes, it’s light viewing.