“The Bubble” might just be the film that shows hungry cinephiles what might have happened behind the scenes when the C-word (Covid) took over the world. In an industry that bleeds money and makes just as much, how did any projects get made over the past few years? There are, of course, films that simply incorporated Covid into their filmmaking. They opted to create storylines centered around the virus. Others chose to police heavy-duty protocols for their cast and crew to circumnavigate, well, causing harm to everyone involved the best they could. And this is where “The Bubble” stems from. Judd Apatow (Trainwreck and This is 40) teamed up with writer Same Brady (Southpark.) Together, they recreated a funny version of how that might have looked.

The newest installment of a dinosaur-themed movie franchise, Cliff Beasts is going ahead. In a similar vein to something like “Jurassic World”, the Cliff Beasts film sets off with a mixed bag of cast and crew who all bounce off each other (sometimes literally) to make a movie. But first, everyone needs to submit to two weeks of quarantine. That concept, in itself, is one of the highlights of The Bubble movie. And when you consider a repeat of this scenario as the film falls victim to an illness, there are definitely some very funny scenes. Subsequently mirroring real life, the cast and crew weren’t the cause of breaches. Similar to instances I saw in news articles, outsiders utilized for deliveries were the main cause of infection.

The Bubble Flies High

Add to that the general makeup of the characters and excellent casting choices for “The Bubble” and there is a lot to like. For starters, Dustin (Dave Duchovny) is married to Lauren (Leslie Mann.) Luckily, he has one of those rocky Hollywood relationships that everyone is always talking about. You’ve got Carol (Karen Gillan) who really isn’t a big fan of the dinosaur-themed franchise at all. She’s been trying to break away from the films that made her famous but the results of that endeavor are pretty funny too.

Where the film lets us down is in its lengthy runtime. The Bubble runs over two hours and there are some momentary globs of boredom. Overall though there is something inside the four walls of this script that allows you to laugh at the shitty side of Covid. And we like that. Performances are spot on though, which is hard in a film with so many moving pieces. Amongst some of the highlights is Krystal (Iris Apatow.) Krystal is a TikTok social media influencer whose antics include some very amusing TikTok dance choreography that has everyone on set joining in. Additionally, a love tryst between receptionist Anika (Maria Bakalova) and Dieter (Pedro Pascal) turns into a comical interlude throughout.