The latest instalment in the Jurassic World franchise, Dominion, has had an extremely rocky road to release. As one of the few films to strive forward with filming during the initial stages of the pandemic, the production faced a seemingly never-ending slew of COVID-related struggles and when comedy directing icon Judd Apatow heard about it, well, he decided to make his own movie about that movie’s making. Confused? Don’t worry, watching The Bubble you’ll never be confused as to what is going on, just to why so little of it is actually funny. Apatow’s latest should be a scathing satire of the Hollywood production’s hubris and the larger-than-life figures that populated it; in reality it is a lukewarm series of disjointed, overly long jokes that don’t come together in any cohesive way to say much at all about anything.
With production for Cliff Beasts 6 forging on ahead in spite of the ongoing COVID pandemic, former franchise star Carol Cobb (Karen Gillan) is forced to reunite with her old cast-mates after a failed side-project almost derailed her entire career. As the cast and crew hole up in a palatial English estate it appears that old grudges are forgotten as the group – including the film’s stars Lauren Van Chance (Leslie Mann), Dieter Bravo (Pedro Pascal), Sean Knox (Keegan-Michael Key), Dustin Murray (David Duchovny) and director Darren Eigen (Fred Armisen) – party together and look forward to having another hit film on their resumés. When the realities of pandemic-era filmmaking settle in however – frequent PCR tests, sudden isolations, social distancing – the group begin to turn on each other and long for escape from their high-class prison. It is up to the film’s producer Gavin (Peter Serafinowicz) and his team of COVID-protocol staff to ensure that a film gets made and his actor’s survive the process.
Netflix, 2022
The Bubble feels like a drastic departure for Apatow, whose style usually leans towards a mixture of witty, reference-heavy comedy and real-life situations and stakes. Here the absurdity of the whole situation is dialled up to eleven, in a clear attempt at satirising our collective human reactions to the pandemic and the quirks that come with it. There are flashes of relatable, hilarious observations – a montage of whacky responses to invasive PCR tests – but these are few and far between amongst the otherwise long, drawn-out sequences of actors bickering over poor scripts or going to insane lengths to survive their isolations.
One such sequence involves a cast member projectile vomiting on another cast member after vehemently denying being sick. It’s a shocking, viscerally disgusting moment that merits a laugh, but Apatow beats a dead horse by having more and more actors vomit for what feels like an eternity. This over-commitment to the bit happens in each and every big scene, to the point where the film feels more like a series of sketches sewn roughly together than a fully fledged movie with a central narrative. The only through-line here belongs to COVID and besides immediately dating the film as a product of this moment in time, Apatow forgets to write characters that are anything more than hollow caricatures of the spoiled Hollywood actor.
Netflix, 2022
You could argue that Apatow is attempting to poke fun at that stereotypical rich, whiny actor but doesn’t have anything to say other than unfunny, mean-spirited jabs. Without characters that we can sympathise with, an actual story-line or decent jokes, the only thing the audience is left to be is bored; a fact that isn’t helped by Apatow’s usual overstuffed runtime. Still, the entire all-star cast commendably commits to even the silliest bits, making for some laughs in the ridiculousness of seeing Pedro Pascal and David Duchovny pulling off TikTok dances. Newcomer Harry Tevaldwyn deserves mention too; excellent as the film’s quiet but sharp-witted COVID officer, it is a shame he doesn’t have a better overall package to make his debut in.
The Bubble is a total misfire for Apatow, who proves with this film that his strengths lie in the grounded comedy-dramas of Knocked Up and This is 40 rather than this absurdist look at the pandemic. While his intentions are admirable and the concept is rife with comedic potential, the end-result is a painfully bloated and unfunny series of gags that fail to provide any new perspective on the pandemic that hasn’t already been beaten to death in the past two years through twitter jokes and memes. Like the virus itself, this is one pandemic-era product that should be left in the past, sorry to burst your bubble Judd.
Netflix, 2022
The Bubble stars Karen Gillan, Pedro Pascal, Iris Apatow, Leslie Mann, Fred Armisen, Keegan-Michael Key, Kate McKinnon, Guy Khan, Peter Serafinowicz, Maria Bakalova & David Duchovny – Streaming on Netflix now.
Some might say that, at this point in his career, Pete Davidson is known more for his public persona than anything he has done on Saturday Night Live. If his new Judd Apatow directed film The King of Staten Island does anything, it shows that he is fully aware of it. Serving as less of a true comedy and more of a character study that attempts to demystify the man behind the public relationships and nervous breakdowns, the film gives you an insight into what makes him tick in a semi-biographical tale of his life, warts and all. It’s a brave pursuit and it’s clear that Davidson has put his heart and soul into writing the film and playing himself, showing just how devastating an effect the death of his father has had on his psyche. It does, however, suffer in the joke department – with only a handful of scenes offering more than a weak chuckle. The film feels like something of a hoodwink, luring you in with the prospect of an exciting young comedic talent and then failing to deliver. If you go in knowing that this is a deep dive into Davidson’s life then you are likely to get more out of it but at this point so long after his popularity has peaked it is hard to believe that the audience is really starving for this introspective look.
Davidson plays Scott, a 20-something stoner who lives at home and spends his days hanging around his friends’ shady basements and local Staten Island parks contemplating his future and dreaming of bigger things. The untimely death of his firefighter father as a child (a fact pulled from Davidson’s real life – his father passed away rescuing civilians in 9/11) has haunted Scott for his whole life, causing some severe mental and behavioural issues that he has struggled to deal with and has numbed through drugs. With his sister Claire (Maude Apatow) graduating, Scott finds himself at something of a crossroads, forced to consider his future and whether he should pursue his dream of opening up a tattoo parlour restaurant, whilst also juggling his casual relationship with lifelong friend Kelsey (Bel Powley) and the arrival of his widowed mother’s (Maria Tomei) new boyfriend Ray (Bill Burr). Whilst navigating this perfect storm of personal problems Scott must also deal with a resurgence of his mental illness, causing him to doubt the right decisions he makes while still managing a number of exceedingly irrational ones.
Universal Pictures, 2020
The key question I have for The King of Staten Island and Pete Davidson in particular is what is the purpose of it? The film’s biggest flaw seems to be that the message is so jumbled and confused that I’m not really sure what the overall themes at play are and to try and get to the bottom of the problem I believe it’s necessary to look at Davidson’s real story. The most understandable part of Davidson’s real-life narrative is his sudden and dramatic rise to fame through his personal life. He was never one of the biggest players on Saturday Night Live during his tenure and it was easy to empathise and feel slightly bad for someone thrust into the limelight because of a relationship with one of the biggest pop stars on the planet in Ariana Grande; it’s essentially the plot of Notting Hill come to life. Davidson’s decision to make the character of Scott so hopeless and almost unlikeable is baffling, especially when the arc to really dig deep into his public persona and the exacerbation of his mental illnesses is seemingly so obvious. The real Davidson likes to portray his image as this slacker loser but in reality has obviously put in a lot of hard work to get to the position he is in today.
Scott, on the other hand, is utterly useless and blames everyone around him for his inability to make decisions. The character’s motivations are woefully underdeveloped, with the storyline around Scott’s desire to open up a tattoo parlour only cropping up when the other, more interesting plot-lines around his mother’s boyfriend or his sister’s inability to move on with her life because of him seems to grind to a halt or run out of steam. It doesn’t ever feel like Scott ever really wants to pursue tattooing as a full time career and as a result it becomes hard to see the admittedly sweet character moments between Davidson and Bill Burr that stem from this plot-line as anything more than a joke. It is unclear if Davidson and co-writers Judd Apatow and Dave Sirus have threaded the storylines in the film together in such a jumbled way as some kind of a visual representation of the scattered thoughts and mental clouding that Scott’s depression causes, but if that is the goal then they have achieved it. The constant switching of Scott’s motivations doesn’t actually work towards building any empathy for the character from the audience, and it’s hard to really get invested in Scott’s love-life with Kelsey when he constantly treats her terribly as he does similarly to his sister. It plays as a straight up drama rather than a comedy, focusing on the devastating ripple effects that a traumatic event can have on a child; following them through to adulthood. It’s just a pity that you have to dig so far into it to really understand what they were going for (even then I’m not so sure; this is just me trying to make sense of it all) and the billing of this as a comedy may be misleading to audiences.
Universal Pictures, 2020
If it seems like I’m drawing too many similarities between Davidson and his character and paying too much attention to his real life, it is because Davidson has given the impression that this is his story. In interviews he has made it clear that he hopes this will help audiences understand him and he has gone so far as to shoot the production in his native Staten Island, with many of his friends in supporting roles including rappers Machine Gun Kelly and Action Bronson as well as his childhood friend and co-writer Dave Sirus. Therefore I think that it is fair to draw comparisons between the real narrative and the film, and in many ways this is an excellent look at mental illness and the harm it can cause someone. What it isn’t, however, is particularly funny, which is a shame given Davidson’s track record. He’s excellent in the role, particularly the dramatic scenes and there are a handful of laugh-out-loud moments, but for the most part the jokes fall flat and don’t showcase anything particularly different from the standard fare on Davidson’s irregular “Weekly Update” segments on Saturday Night Live. The real star of the show here is stand-up comedian Bill Burr as Ray, the potential step-father to Scott who isn’t afraid to show him some tough loving in order to stir him into getting his life in order. Burr has always been a phenomenal stand-up comedian and one of the best working today, but his transition here to a key supporting, if not lead role, is wonderful. It isn’t the most joke-heavy role in the film but Burr never fails to make an impact and at the very least brings a chuckle to every scene, even if only through his delivery of a line. I hope that we get to see him in more comedies going forward because the man oozes talent and can clearly translate his stand-up persona to the screen in the right roles.
My experience with The King of Staten Island was an interesting one. I went in expecting a comedy. That is what the trailers and talent in-front of and behind the camera sold me on. As a comedy I can say that The King of Staten Island isn’t a particularly funny one and ranks towards the bottom of Judd Apatow’s filmography; but as a dramatic study of a young man learning to embrace the trauma of his past and accept it as a part of himself in order to move on with his life the film absolutely delivers, with a commanding lead performance from Pete Davidson and excellent supporting work from Bill Burr. While I think the story could have benefitted greatly from making the character of Scott more empathetic and likeable, his story still made me reflect on just how difficult Davidson has had it and I can only imagine how rough it must have been for the guy being thrust into the spotlight. At the end of the day however, the demand for that deep introspective look into Davidson’s psyche probably isn’t as high today as it may have been a few years ago, and I can’t really recommend that this heavy, rarely funny comedy is anything you need to flock to the newly reopened cinemas (in Australia at least) to see.
Universal Pictures, 2020
The King of Staten Island stars Pete Davidson, Bill Burr, Maude Apatow, Bel Powley, Ricky Velez & Marisa Tomei – Available to rent on VOD in America and in Australian cinemas now.
Judd Apatow has been around comedy his whole life and it shows with an extensive background in stand-up comedy and a long list of producing credits which extend to some of the best comedies of all time – including Anchorman, Bridesmaids and Step Brothers to name just a few. He’s also not afraid of getting behind the camera and has proven himself something of a surefire bet on the film front, helming some of the most beloved comedies of the last 15 years. With a keen focus on stories about everyday people and their ordinary struggles, told through the eyes of witty, often down-on-their-luck characters who must master themselves in order to succeed, Apatow has perfected a particular brand of crude, reference-heavy humour and made stars of many of today’s leading talents including Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Amy Schumer and his own wife Leslie Mann. With his newest, potentially star-making film on the horizon; the Pete Davidson starring The King of Staten Island, we thought it was the perfect time to journey back through Apatow’s filmography and get you up-to-speed before you check out his latest.
5. Funny People (2009)
Universal Pictures, 2009
Apatow’s comedies always try to find humour in everyday life. That has always been his defining characteristic and something that, up until Funny People, had always seemed to work. By basing the humour around everyday-life, you also have to address the fact that not everything in life is funny and find ways to work these elements into the films to further the character’s journeys and not depress the audience. Having done that successfully twice before, Apatow decided to steer further away from the comedy here and into “dramedy” territory as we follow popular stand-up comic George Simmons (Adam Sandler) in the twilight of his career and on the verge of receiving a cancer diagnosis that forces him to re-evaluate his whole life. Fame has left Simmons sad and alone so he employs aspiring stand-up Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) as his assistant to help him get his affairs in order and to form a genuine bond with someone. The pair’s adventures eventually lead Simmons down memory lane and inspire him to attempt to reconnect with former flame and the love of his life Laura (Leslie Mann) in a last ditch attempt to give his life meaning before he goes to the great beyond. Funny People’s biggest problem – and only Apatow film with this problem – is that it doesn’t live up to its title: it is not funny. This is a film with a heavy focus on stand-up comedy; placing some of the best comedians of the day in these roles – Aziz Ansari, Jonah Hill, Aubrey Plaza – and none of the jokes are even remotely chuckle-worthy. We are meant to believe that Ira is awful at the job with his middling sets focusing on bad sex and fart jokes, but even when he “gets better” the jokes don’t actually improve. Such lacklustre performance by the majority of the cast means that the brunt of the work falls on Adam Sandler and it’s not right to expect him to bear that burden whilst also shouldering this dark, dramatic storyline. The plot essentially serves as a walk down memory lane for the Sandman, with Simmons’s past movies echoing his own with shades of Billy Madison and The Waterboy amongst them. The issue here is that Sandler plays such a wholly unlikeable character who expects the world to shift around him and attempts to break up his ex-girlfriend’s family in order to find some happiness. It’s almost impossible to root for the guy and instead of trying to steer him towards the light Apatow doubles down on Simmons’ hateful side, stopping any empathetic reaction from the audience and shifting their support to Ira, who just isn’t developed enough as a character to lead the story. The only bright spark in the whole film comes from Eric Bana as the clueless, ridiculously over-the-top Australian husband of Laura, who steals absolutely every scene he is in.
4. Trainwreck (2015)
Universal Pictures, 2015
2015’s Trainwreck marked a turning point for Apatow as the first film he directed that he didn’t write himself. That credit goes to the film’s star Amy Schumer whose career shot into the stratosphere on the back of this raunchy romantic comedy about the relationship-phobic Amy (Schumer) who, against her better judgement, begins to fall for smart, down-to-earth doctor-to-the-stars Aaron (Bill Hader); a decision which forces her to reevaluate her life’s trajectory and leave behind the string of one night stands she has become accustomed to. Despite not being written by him, Trainwreck bears most of the hallmarks of an Apatow flick, even the bad ones. Clocking in at a meaty 2 hours, the film certainly feels the length at times but the endearing characters at the centre of the romance, particularly Bill Hader, and the typically solid jokes do enough to offset the runtime. Trainwreck actually might be Apatow’s least funny film but unlike Funny People it almost feels intentional as the script is clearly something intensely personal for Schumer and places a lot of focus on the key relationships in Amy’s life and building your investment in these people. However, your enjoyment of Trainwreck hinges entirely on your tolerance for Schumer – a somewhat divisive comedian – with a particularly sarcastic and dry wit, so much so that it can be off-putting at times. The character, to some degree, needs to be like this in order to show you Amy’s growth but her sense of humour is something that not everyone will take a shining to. Regardless of your feelings for Schumer, Apatow does a great job filming the material and sprinkling in his own sense of humour; clearly drawing on his comedy status to gather a few high profile players, including LeBron James as Aaron’s client. The NBA star surprisingly gives one of the best performances by an athlete in a film that I have ever seen, underplaying his wealth and status as an average guy to hilarious results. Trainwreck marked something of a shift for Apatow into singularly character-focused features that almost mirror the star’s real life – a risky prospect and trend that he looks to be continuing with Pete Davidson’s upcoming semi-autobiographical film – and one which thankfully doesn’t live up to its title.
3. This is 40 (2012)
Universal Pictures, 2012
Of all of Apatow’s films, This is 40 is the one I find myself going back to the most. I understand all the common criticisms about the film – it’s overly long and there is no particularly tangible driving story to it – but there is something just so inherently watchable about the film that I find myself constantly throwing it on. We follow the family of Pete (Paul Rudd), Debbie (Leslie Mann) and their daughters Sadie (Maude Apatow) and Charlotte (Iris Apatow) throughout their daily lives as Pete and Debbie struggle to come to terms with turning 40, raising two daughters, a host of financial issues and the possible breakdown of their marriage. Like most of Apatow’s films, the humour is found in the mundane everyday things and Apatow makes the wise choice of letting Mann and Rudd run wild with the humour, improvising much of it and capitalising off the excellent chemistry between the pair. The film is a sort of pseudo-sequel in the Apatow universe as these 4 main characters are all pulled from Knocked Up (more on that later). Like that film, Apatow surrounds his core actors with a phenomenal supporting cast including Albert Brooks, Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd, Lena Dunham and Megan Fox, who are all given small sub-plots and character traits that really help to flesh out the world and make you feel like you are watching real people. Brooks shines as Pete’s ageing cheapskate father who constantly mooches off his son to support his new wife and twin teen sons, constantly finding new ways to guilt Pete for even suggesting he get a job. It might not be as laugh-out-loud funny as the next two movies on the list but This is 40 is a criminally under-seen gem from the director; a slice of suburban hilarity with a good message to boot.
2. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
Universal Pictures, 2005
The early 2000’s were hugely successful years for romantic comedies. The genre pretty much defined the decade, and classics like Bridget Jones’ Diary, Love Actually and My Big Fat Greek Wedding were all carving out their own slices of the cake. This might just explain why Apatow’s surprise hit The 40 Year-Old Virgin did as well as it did back in 2005 – it’s the anti rom-com. Amongst a sea of generic films trying to set themselves apart, the story of a placid, middle-aged IT salesman yet to reach home base was the palate cleanser Hollywood never knew it needed. In the same year that he began leading the legendary US version of The Office, Steve Carell was fantastic as titular virgin Andy Stitzer, giving his character the right mix of desperation and good intentions for audiences to follow wholeheartedly. Andy’s colleagues David (Paul Rudd), Cal (Seth Rogan) and Jay (Romany Malco) make the most of the situation, doing what they can to help their naïve friend while berating him at every opportunity. Granted, some of the humour is fairly low-brow by today’s standards and it’s not really a plot that needs revisiting, but Apatow does more than enough to keep it from becoming complete smut with some genuinely heartwarming character moments and at least a little restraint when things inevitably heat up. Despite its apparent target audience, the director also builds a solid supporting cast of strong female characters who never fail to miss a beat, including beleaguered single mother Trish (Catherine Keener), her teenage daughter Marla (Kat Dennings), local shopkeeper Beth (Elizabeth Banks), unfortunate alcoholic Nicky (Leslie Mann) and of course Andy’s stone-cold manager Paula (Jane Lynch). It’s not always pretty, but The 40 Year-Old Virgin still brings an unexpectedly charming story spun with some great comedic talent, ultimately proving that every dog does indeed have his day.
1. Knocked Up (2007)
Universal Pictures, 2007
Apatow’s finest work to date is undoubtedly the hilarious pregnancy comedy Knocked Up, which cemented the director as one of the most adept at modern comedy, with a particular knack for tapping into the cultural zeitgeist with witty, reference-heavy jokes practically spilling out of every scene. It also helped establish Seth Rogen – one of the finest comedians working today – as a bonafide leading man more than capable of carrying a film and delivering a layered character with heart who goes beyond typical comedy stereotypes to be someone the audience can actually relate to and who seems like a real person. The situation itself is also incredibly real and rooted in everyday life as we follow Ben Stone (Rogen), a lovable jobless stoner who spends his days smoking and wasting time with his friends (a veritable smorgasbord of comedic talent in Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel and Martin Starr). When Ben runs into career-focused reporter Alison (Katherine Heigl) at a club, the two hit it off leading to a one-night stand with consequences as Alison falls pregnant. Being a decent guy, Ben attempts to make things work with Alison and take responsibility for his life, discovering what kind of a man he is in the process to hilarious results. Knocked Up‘s structure and writing are something of a Judd Apatow speciality, a formula that he consistently attempts to improve on and alter to sometimes mixed results. This particular instance of it, however, was the perfect execution – grounding the story in a somewhat more down-to-earth situation than The 40 Year-Old Virgin – following relatable characters through their everyday activities and then exposing them to some sort of change to find the humour in those awkward and uncomfortable moments in life. Every part of Knocked Up lands: the key performances from Rogen and Heigl are well developed and you understand both of their perspective to this situation perfectly well, the supporting cast is out of this world and ensures that almost every scene is just brimming with laughs, and the jokes are well written and hit hard, without underpinning the heart of the story or distracting from it. Knocked Up is not only Apatow’s best work, but one of the best comedies of the 2000’s period: a game changer for modern comedy that set the bar for years to come.
