Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
The whole point of having these radio-sponsored screenings of movies is to generate buzz, and it looks like it paid off tonight as we got e-mail from both Atlanta and Orlando where people saw BUBBLE BOY. I see the trailers for this on television now almost incessantly, and I'll be glad once it's out just so the advertising rotation finally coughs this one up and stops rubbing my nose in it.
Here's our man in Atlanta:
Harry and Moriarty,
Figured you all might be interested in a review of the new movie Bubble Boy. Saw a radio station sneak preview tonight in Atlanta at the Regal Hollywood 24. (Pretty pleased with it being Regal because I'm a big fan of their popcorn over other chains.) Theater was half full with a mixed audience of very young to very old and have to say that I was very surprised at how enjoyable this movie was.
I went in expecting an extreme physical comedy and was really impressed with the the mixture of different comedic set-ups. Swoosie Kurtz had some great lines as the zealous mother and Marley Shelton played the girl next door really well. Jake Gylenhall really carried this movie though. He did a great job with a role that could have easily sucked. I actually cared for what happened to him in the movie. He had a lot of really funny scenes handed to him on a plate and he did a great job. (Beer scene, pet hamster scene, etc.) It made me really want to see Donnie Darko because he played quirky exceptionally.
The real story of the movie is the road trip aspect from some west coast city to Niagra Falls to stop Marley Shelton's wedding. Some of the set-ups worked better then others. Vern Troyer (Mini-me) was fairly funny as the freak show leader. I enjoyed the girl that played Abby on the Fred Savage sitcom Working (I'm a USAM freak) as the leader of the Bright and Shiny Cult. The person that really was the best though was the all-time bad guy of movies Danny Trejo. I could have lived without the person who played Babu in Seinfeld as the Indian Ice Cream Salesman.
And that is the one real fault of the movie is that they too often went for the cheap joke. There was too much sterotype humor in a movie that wasn't a message type movie. Sure there were jokes about all different types of sterotypes but I often find that to be a cheap laugh. (Jay and Silent Bob used it way too much in the Chris Rock scenes.) But that is really my only fault with the movie.
It was a really fun 90 minutes! I hope the movie does well because it reminded of me of Pee Wee Herman movies and I'd love to see more movies with Pee Wee type stories. Also I'd really like to see more of Jake Gylenhall in movies because he seems like a very promising actor. (I'll take him over Freddie Prinze Jr. any day of the week.)
Keep up the good work!
And our spy in Orlando:
What's up everyone?
Saw Bubble Boy last night at 106.7's screening in Orlando. I'll be fast. I loved it. I had a great time and so did the rest of the crowd! The place was dying laughing.
Highlights:
-Fun road movie with a great job by most of the cast especially the Bubble Boy.
-Kind of offensive movie that wasn't exactly cookie cutter PC summer junk.
-They had a flipper boy in the movie! A real flipper boy. Sure it was make-up but it looked awesome.
-Bubble Boy's Moms fairy tales killed me. I wish they'd put out the revised edition of these.
-Pippy and Pappy and the backfiring cars/planes was pretty fricking hillarious. Let's just say it invovlved something similar to another great summer movie Pootie Tang.
-Pledge of Allegiance scene the first time Bubble Boy wakes up from a sex dream.
Lowlights:
-Awkward little ending. No other way to describe it.
-That guy Beetlejuice from the Howard Stern show was in the movie taking up valuable screen time from real actors/actresses trying to make a living. That pissed me off. I don't even remember if he talked. I think he had 2 lines. Whatever.
Other than that the movie ruled. Most people that likes comedies should like this. Check it out if you get a chance.
