Bubble Boy (film)

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Bubble Boy
Bubble Boy movie poster.jpg
Theatrical poster
Directed byBlair Hayes
Written byCinco Paul
Ken Daurio
Produced byBeau Flynn
Starring
CinematographyJerzy Zielinski
Edited byPamela Martin
Music byJohn Ottman
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures
Release date
  • August 24, 2001 (2001-08-24)
Running time
84 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$13 million[2]
Box office$5 million (Domestic)[2]

Bubble Boy is a 2001 American black comedy film directed by Blair Hayes, starring Jake Gyllenhaal in the title role.[3] It was inspired by the 1976 movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.[4] A musical by the same name was written by the same authors and first performed in 2008.[4]

Plot[]

Born without an immune system, Jimmy Livingston is forced to live in a sterilized dome in his bedroom in his home in California, earning him the nickname "Bubble Boy" by his neighbors. Jimmy's overbearing and devout Christian mother only exposes him to Highlights magazine and Land of the Lost for entertainment. When he is a teenager, Jimmy is immediately taken with a girl named Chloe who moves in next door and the two become friends, despite his mother's discouragement. Though Chloe leaves for Niagara Falls to marry her boyfriend Mark in three days' time, Jimmy realizes that Chloe actually cares for him and builds a mobile bubble suit to run away from home, determined to stop the wedding.

Along the way, Jimmy is picked up by an overly enthusiastic cult called Bright and Shiny but is abandoned in the desert when he offends them. He finds a new ride after assisting Slim, a biker who speaks fondly of an old flame named "Wildfire" upon hearing Jimmy's story. Discovering that their son is missing, the Livingstons relentlessly pursue Jimmy along with the cult members, realizing their error after their leader Gil reveals the group's messiah as "the round one". Jimmy leaves a distracted Slim behind in Las Vegas and continues on using a scooter he wins at a casino. When encountering his parents on the road, Jimmy is struck by their vehicle and bounces aboard a train belonging to Dr. Phreak, a small man who collects "freaks" and shows them off to the public for money. When Phreak tries to recruit Jimmy to his show, Jimmy knocks him unconscious which allows the freaks to go their own way but choose to trail Jimmy along with the other parties in pursuit.

Jimmy is picked up by an Indian ice cream truck driver named Pushpop, but is forced to continue on foot when a cow is struck on the road. After winning $500 in a mud wrestling competition to pay a taxi driver named Pappy for a ride, Jimmy is cornered by the cult members but slips away during the group's skirmish with the freaks and Slim's gang. After Pappy appears to have died behind the wheel, Jimmy tries to call Chloe from a gas station in New York only to reach her fiancé Mark, who rudely convinces him that Chloe doesn't really love him. Feeling defeated, Jimmy intends to return home with his parents but encouragement and an opening provided by his father Morton allows him to escape on a plane piloted by Pappy's twin brother Pippy.

Forced to drop from the plane over Niagara Falls when Pippy also becomes lifeless, Jimmy survives the fall and manages to arrive to the church in time to stop the wedding. Abandoning his bubble suit, he embraces and kisses Chloe for the first time before collapsing to the floor. At Morton's insistence, Mrs. Livingston confesses to Jimmy that he had already developed an immune system when he was four and has been perfectly fine all along, only keeping him isolated all his life due to her overprotective nature.

Some time later, Jimmy and Chloe are married with all of the people encountered during his adventure in attendance. Having been recognized as the former "Wildfire", Mrs. Livingston re-embraces her rebellious side and prepares to depart with Slim on his bike along with Morton. Jimmy and Chloe discover the reconciled Pippy and Pappy – both of whom merely fell asleep instead of dying – behind the wheel as the newlyweds ride off to begin their honeymoon.

Cast[]

Reception[]

The film opened #13 at the U.S. Box office, taking in US$2,038,349 in its opening weekend.[citation needed]

On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 31% based on 84 reviews, with an average rating of 3.76/10. The site's consensus states that "Bubble Boy bounces along with lame, offensive jokes that are more tasteless than funny."[5] On Metacritic it has a score of 41% based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] The film has been considered a "cult comedy."[7]

Musical adaptation[]

Main article: Bubble Boy (musical)

In 2013, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio adapted Bubble Boy into a stage musical featuring original songs, for which an original cast recording was released on Ghostlight Records in 2017 featuring A.J. Holmes, Alice Ripley and Richard Kind, produced by Paul, Justin Goldner & Kurt Deutsch.[8][9][10]

References[]

  1. ^ "Bubble Boy (12)". British Board of Film Classification. September 13, 2001. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Bubble Boy (2001) - Financial Information". The Numbers (website). Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  3. ^ Mitchell, Elvis (August 24, 2001). "The Bubble Boy (2001) FILM REVIEW; Boy With a Decent Spirit That No One Can Burst". The New York Times.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Bertholdo, Stephanie (January 31, 2008). "'Bubble Boy: The Musical' coming". The Acorn. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  5. ^ "Bubble Boy (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  6. ^ "Bubble Boy". Metacritic. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  7. ^ Gyllenhaal rides into film A-list, BBC News, 20 February 2006
  8. ^ "Bubble Boy [Original Cast Recording] - Cinco Paul | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  9. ^ BWW News Desk. "BUBBLE BOY Original Cast Recording Pops Today; Watch Caroline Bowman Sing 'Falling for the Boy'!". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  10. ^ "REVIEW: Bubble Boy, Original Cast Recording ✭✭✭✭✭". British Theatre. July 12, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2018.

External links[]

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