Jake Gyllenhaal (no, the double l's and a's aren't typos) stars as Jimmy Livingston, Bubble Boy. A lack of immunities causes Jimmy to live his days inside a plastic contraption that appears easily popped (but what do I know?). Early on, as Jimmy grows up, his stereotypical, "crazy" religious mother reads him demented fairy tales and feeds him cross shaped crackers through a sanitizing chamber. Sound funny?
Jimmy soon falls in love with Chloe, his next door neighbor, who entices him with a sexy car wash (cliche, anyone?). The humor hits its peak when a twenty something-looking Jimmy discovers he has an erection and doesn't know how to handle it (that pun is funnier than anything in the movie). When Jimmy discovers Chloe is to be married to the usual egotistical, uncaring loser this genre of film always throws at the audience, it's up to him to put an end to the wedding. Jimmy builds a portable bubble and heads to Niagra Falls against his parents wishes.
There are a few amusing cameos. Danny Trejo tries hard as a rebel biker, but a subplot involving Fabio(?)'s cult removing Jimmy's genetalia reminds you the movie is pure crap. By the end, Jimmy's seen Vegas, eaten ice cream, ridden a motorcycle and kissed a girl...but will you care? The answer is a resounding no.
Bubble Boy does, however, have the distinction of being the only film to offer Patrick Cranshaw (the old man who can eat his face) in two different roles. I'm not sure if that is a good thing, though.
The high point: Verne Troyer (Mini-Me) as Dr. Phreak. He actually intimidates a band of freaks and forces them to star in his traveling sideshow.
The low point: One scene includes a retarded, handicapped teen making silly faces in the background with no explaination.
Bottom Line: Bubble Boy tries hard to be both a social commentary on accepting those that are different and a gross out comedy. It fails miserably at both. The film takes shots at Jews, Christians, Islamics, freaks, and many more elements of American culture. If only Walt Disney were alive to see this.
The film runs a very short 84 minutes and was directed by Blair Hayes. It's never boring and quite an interesitng failure - yet never unintentionally funny. Worth a look on the discount video bin.
