The Bubble
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): April 1, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
34
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
19
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
38
Chicago TribuneNina MetzApr 6, 2022
No one seems particularly good at their jobs, but that’s beside the point. They’re silly and self-absorbed — mildly obnoxious more than anything — but rarely is their desperation funny. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 5, 2022
No, it doesn’t come off. The entire enterprise feels under-developed and hamstrung, and not just by whatever level of “lockdown” conditions this was filmed under. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyApr 1, 2022
In his last movie, The King of Staten Island (2020), Apatow was stretching, both emotionally and tonally, and it largely worked. Here he isn’t, and it doesn’t. Read full review
33
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMar 31, 2022
Apatow gets a lot of shit for making scattershot comedies that run the length of David Lean epics, but the patchwork of scenes that comprise his latest have less in common with “Funny People” than they do “Movie 43,” and might just be aimless enough to make the director’s critics appreciate the flow of his earlier work. Read full review
30
CNNBrian LowryApr 6, 2022
Apatow serves up some clever lines, but they're mostly lost in the overall noise and manic tone. While it's not necessarily too soon for a funny Covid movie, The Bubble labors to achieve a sought-after level of zaniness right up until the ending. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 31, 2022
Think of The Bubble as part of a pattern we could have anticipated. Pandemic movies almost can’t be any good at this point. The pandemic won’t be funny, interesting or anything anybody wants to think about until we’re safely beyond it by a few years. So, filmmakers, set your watches for pandemic nostalgia to commence circa 2027, and between now and then, just put it out of your minds. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineJake ColeMar 31, 2022
The film’s toothless showbiz satire mostly comes down to teasing its characters for their entitlement and self-importance. Read full review
20
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMar 31, 2022
Some of the jokes here are so bad they may be legally actionabubble, even prosecutabubble, and will cause toes to curl on the feet of the hitherto unembarrassabubble. There are scenes now seared upon my memory through sheer force of murderous un-funniness which I fear may prove to be unscrubbabubble. Read full review
20
VarietyPeter DebrugeMar 31, 2022
Judd Apatow made a movie. A very bad movie. Read full review
12
ObserverOliver JonesApr 19, 2022
The movie spends the bulk of its largely inert runtime painfully unaware that it is an example of the self-indulgent narcissism it’s intended to send up. Read full review
0
Los Angeles TimesJessica KiangApr 4, 2022
The Bubble is so charmless, joyless and jokeless — and at more than two hours so endless — that by its close you have to check your smile muscles for signs of atrophy. Read full review
0
The PlaylistCharles BramescoMar 31, 2022
A film that takes so many below-the-belt jabs at the idiocy of Tinseltown blockbusters must, at the very least, be a few IQ points higher than the stuff it makes fun of for being stupid. Read full review
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