Jake Gylleahall in "Bubble Boy."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal Director: Blair Hayes Rated: PG-13, with profanity and innuendo Length: 84 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(August 24, 2001) -- I've been mulling over Bubble Boy for two days, deciding whether it was offensive.

In the film, Jake Gyllenhaal plays Jimmy, a teen who suffers from severe immune deficiency and comes of age in the confines of a plastic bubble in his parents' suburban home.

Jimmy is watched over by his zealously religious mother (Swoosie Kurtz), and is content to live that way till he meets Chloe, the sweet and sexy girl who visits from next door.

Chloe opens Jimmy's eyes to the bigger, broader world.

When Chloe goes to Niagara Falls to get married, Jimmy pursues her -- in a traveling version of his bubble -- to confess his love.

Along the way, he encounters: a freak circus, a blissed-out religious cult, a motorcycle gang, a wacky Hindu man selling curry and ice cream out of a truck, and an Asian bar owner running mud-wrestling contests.

But questions linger after the screenings.

Is Bubble Boy a wacky and witty satire on political correctness? Or does it exploit disabled and malformed people, ethnic groups and people of faith?

The film sometimes approaches the colorful exploits of Tim Burton's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. And the film's central metaphor -- breaking free of restrictions -- evokes Burton's masterpiece, Edward Scissorhands.

Indeed, Gyllenhall (of October Sky) brings a sweet innocence that owes much to Johnny Depp's Edward.

But I've concluded that Bubble Boy exploits and offends.

Its attacks on all sorts of believers are relentless and indiscriminate. Its ethnic stereotyping is boisterous, whether it's the nutty Hindu ice-cream vendor or the Chinese bar owner yelling "Five hundred dollar! Five hundred dollar!"

And the use of a real-life disability as a light-hearted metaphor defines "exploitation."

Compare it to the genius of Edward Scissorhands: Edward's "disability" is pure metaphor, with no painful echoes in real life.

There's much to admire about Bubble Boy -- and I suspect the film's wildly inventive first-time director Blair Hayes will go on to big things.

For now, though, he's created a bizarre and imaginative comedy that's guaranteed to divide audiences. It'll be up to you to decide whether your enjoyment carries a guilty price tag.