The Beanie Bubble
Release poster
Directed by
Screenplay byKristin Gore
Based onThe Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute
by Zac Bissonnette
Produced by
Starring
CinematographySteven Meizler
Edited byJane Rizzo
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byApple TV+
Release date
  • July 21, 2023 (2023-07-21)
Running time
110 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Beanie Bubble is a 2023 American comedy-drama film directed by Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash Jr. from a screenplay by Gore, based on the 2015 book The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette about the Beanie Babies bubble. The film stars Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook, and Geraldine Viswanathan.

The Beanie Bubble was released in select cinemas on July 21, 2023, before its streaming release on July 28, 2023, by Apple TV+.[2]

Plot

The film depicts the meteoric rise in popularity of the Beanie Babies and tells the story behind the toy obsession that took off in the 1990s. It follows toy manufacturer turned billionaire Ty Warner, and centers around the women who were integral to his success. Robbie, Sheila, and Maya help turn Beanie Babies into the coveted products they became. The women are based on three real women, Patricia Roche, Faith McGowan, and Lina Trivedi, each of whom played an integral role in the rising popularity of Beanie Babies.[3]

Cast

Production

It was announced in January 2022 that Apple TV+ had acquired the distribution rights for the film, which would see Zach Galifinakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook, and Geraldine Viswanathan star, with Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash directing.[4]

Filming began by April 2022 in Marietta, Georgia.[5] Production also took place in Atlanta.[6]

The film features a new original track from the band OK Go, titled "This".[7]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 48% of 98 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Beanie Bubble's cast makes the movie an easy watch, but that enjoyment is lessened by its shallow treatment of the real-life story."[8] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 49 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[9]

The New York Times critic Calum Marsh unfavorably compared The Beanie Bubble to other "corporate biopics" released in 2023, including Air and Tetris, and said that it "deploys every storytelling cliché in the book".[10] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian criticised the film's "deeply muddled non-storytelling and tonal blandness",[11] and the Evening Standard's Charlotte O'Sullivan said its "clichéd" script offers "a lazy take on power and greed".[12] Digital Spy's Mireia Mullor called the film "understuffed" but said Geraldine Viswanathan's performance "steals the show".[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Beanie Bubble (15)". BBFC. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  2. ↑ Travis, Emlyn (May 11, 2023). "Elizabeth Banks won't let the toy industry break her soul in The Beanie Bubble". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  3. ↑ Espada, Mariah (July 28, 2023). "Apple TV+'s The Beanie Bubble Explores the True Story of the Women Behind the Beanie Baby Fad". Time. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
  4. ↑ Kroll, Justin (January 11, 2022). "Apple Lands Feature Film 'Beanie Bubble' Starring Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook And Geraldine Viswanathan". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  5. ↑ Tochterman, Leo (April 8, 2022). "Movie filming on Marietta Square is The Beanie Bubble". Marietta Daily Journal. Archived from the original on March 4, 2023. Retrieved May 7, 2022 – via Yahoo!.
  6. ↑ Ho, Rodney (April 28, 2022). "Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks in Atlanta shooting Apple TV+s The Beanie Bubble". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on March 4, 2023. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  7. ↑ Tangcay, Jazz (July 21, 2023). "OK Go Shares New Single 'This' From 'The Beanie Bubble' Movie (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  8. ↑ "The Beanie Bubble". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  9. ↑ "The Beanie Bubble". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  10. ↑ Marsh, Calum (July 27, 2023). "'The Beanie Bubble' Review: Caught in a Fad Romance". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  11. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (July 20, 2023). "The Beanie Bubble review – plushie-craze toy story goes down the cute route". The Guardian. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  12. ↑ O'Sullivan, Charlotte (July 28, 2023). "The Beanie Bubble movie review: a toy story that treats us like babies". Evening Standard. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  13. ↑ Mullor, Mireia (July 28, 2023). "The Beanie Bubble review: Is Succession star's new movie worth a watch?". Digital Spy. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
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