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Bubble You will be hearing the word experimental attached to this movie like I am attached to Ben and Jerry's ice cream. While that's kind of cool, it doesn't save an average to poor movie that could have been so much better if it was treated like a serious major motion picture. Debbie Doebereiner stars as Martha - a middle-aged seamstress and airbrush painter for a small Ohio doll factory. She is best friends with a twentysomething worker at the same factory, Kyle (Dustin James Ashley), and the two have formed a strong bond sharing lunch, rides to and from work and time off together. One day, the factory must hire a new worker to help fulfill a major order, so they employ Rose (Misty Dawn Wilkins) - an attractive twentysomething airbrush artist. Because this is what young, single twentysomethings do, Kyle and Rose start spending more and more time together, much to the dismay of Martha. Soon, we learn Rose is trouble. How will Martha react to her best friend being lured away by this little hussy? Director Steven Soderbergh can employ any actor on the face of the planet, but he chooses to experiment by hiring a bunch of Ohio and West Virginia locals to take on all of the roles in Bubble. Yes, there is something redeeming and altruistic in that act, but it also means we have to watch the general manager of a Kentucky Fried Chicken play a role someone like Julia Roberts or Laura Linney or Marcia Gay Harden could have tackled and ridden all the way to an Oscar nomination. Yes, Dobereiner is a KFC GM, Ashley is a student and Wilkins is getting married, so we're not talking about people who graduated from the Actor's Studio. Sure, who wants annoying Oscar caliber talent when you can have a lady who holds the secrets to the Colonel's 11 herbs and spices? I'm not saying the people in this movie were horrible. For people who do not act for a living, they were quite good, but they are going to be compared to real actors who are appearing in the movie theaters next to this one in the Cineplex (or in the DVDs the people at home just watched as part of their double feature), and that's not going to be a flattering comparison. Ashley is overly monotonous in the face of a shocking and emotional turn of events. Dobereiner is fine, but plays Martha's feelings for Kyle a little too close to the vest. Of all of the actors, Wilkins is the best, but often changes emotions too suddenly, when a slower boil is needed, especially in her big scene with Martha (when you see the movie, you'll know the big scene). Sadly, one of the professionals lets the amateurs down. Writer Coleman Hough provides a bare bones script screaming out for better dialogue. While watching the movie, I got the impression Hough might be dumbing it down and assuming what he was writing was realistic for characters like this. First, I think that assumption is a dangerous and misguided one to make. Second, we go to movies to see realism, with a little movie magic tossed in. It's OK to expand the dialogue a bit more to make it gripping and appeal to the audience. Soderbergh does a great job directing the film, which makes me wish he had treated it like Ocean's 11 or Out of Sight or even King of the Hill. I love the way he focuses on what the characters are eating, showing us how these little treats of fast food, chips, and other snacks are moments of respite and reward for people who don't have much else in the way of money or special treats as they often work two jobs to barely get by. He finds the right balance between the dreariness and drudgery of repetitive factory work and the tension building up between the trio of leads as relationships change and face challenges. However, and the blame might equally fall on Hough for this, the movie is far too short. At 72 minutes, we only get most of the story and need the events at the movie's end better explained and shown to us. A great mystery breaks out, but we don't get to see it develop the way we should. Now, onto more of Bubble's experimental parts. Starting January 27, you can see Bubble in many theaters, via pay per view on HDNet, or see it on DVD starting January 31. With more and more people opting to wait for movies to leave the Cineplex and come onto home viewing options, Bubble is an attempt to give the consumer what they want, whether it be the experience of sitting in a theater with the huge screen, popcorn, stadium seating and an awesome sound system, or seeing it in the comfort of your own home without those idiots behind you talking all the way through the movie. It's a novel idea, and may be where movie distribution is heading in the future, but the best experiment with such an idea would be with a major movie like King Kong or The Chronicles of Narnia. Bubble, for as decent of a film as it is, is not exactly in the same class with as many people clamoring to see it, so this is more of a test to see if it can be done without causing outright war with Cineplex owners. 2 Waffle (Out Of 4) Copyright 2006 - WaffleMovies.com
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