The Beanie Bubble

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

The Beanie Bubble is a business biopic about the Beanie Baby crazy, the man behind the plushie empire and the three women who had a major hand in his company's success. I actually felt this film really succeeded in being quite character driven, I never much cared about the nature of the business itself by comparison. The roles here were so dynamic and how they each related differently to Ty Warner I particularly found fascinating. Whether it be Robbie's cunning and combative energy, Sheila's fierce loyalty to her family or Maya's passion and ingenuity; all of these women really made this film a fascinating watch. Yet it is how Ty goes from being this good-natured individual around all of them to manipulating, guilting or downright betraying them all that makes their experiences so similar and satisfying. In fact, once this film is done padding out the build up it really does get quite exciting to watch Ty's true nature come to light steadily.

 

The soundtrack for The Beanie Bubble has some very laidback rock, pop and techno pieces that ground us in the spanning decades but also inject a bit of lighthearted fun into the feature.

 

Zach Galifianakis, who played Ty Warner, really shows off his dramatic chops in this one in a very impressive way; the moments in which Galifianakis gets to show Ty having a complete emotional breakdown in contrast to his usual sweet exterior is brilliant. Sarah Snook, who played Sheila, is a very strong figure with firm boundaries established to protect her onscreen children; watching Snook lower those barriers only to have her hopes dashed is an example of why she is one of the best actresses out right now. Geraldine Viswanathan, who played Maya, is one of the more nergetic and passionate cast members which was a nice point of difference; Viswanathan gets to really embrace being the more youthful lead and the consequences that brings to her character.

 

However, the best performance came from Elizabeth Banks, who played Robbie. As a character Robbie feels very stuck when first we meet her, she's at her wits end and faces a lot of frustrations in her personal life. But the joy Banks shows when her character comes to befriend Galifianakis' Ty is revitalising, we get to see this character come to life. She starts to believe in herself again and she actually seeks out the life she wants to have. I also found her chemistry with Galifianakis to be some of the best in the film; you believe this pair when they are absolutely losing themselves to hilarity, or strategising together or even hurling abuse at one another. I loved how nicely Banks developed and progressed this role, you watch her steadily get a little annoyed at the imbalance of things or Ty's mannerisms. Yet the massive moment in the feature comes twofold: when Banks gets to express her character's rage at being betrayed and then the smug satisfaction when she finally gets her revenge. This character arc is absolutely my favourite to watch across the film.

 

There have been a strange rise in business biopic features over the past couple of years, inconsequential pieces around the invention of Tetris or the Blackberry phone. This one interested me for no other reason than I liked the more novel idea of how this plush toy craze sweeped the world. Yet when all was said and done this really does nothing new, in fact it really steps in a way that doesn't much surprise you as it goes along. There's a real from rags to riches to the ultimate fall feeling from the start and the film is quite comfortable dishing this to you. But worse than that is the way it delivers the narrative, through a non-linear style that just jumps all over the show chronologically. A non-linear biopic can work quite well, but this film often moves in a way that feels random and really yanks your attention around. I also felt there is a lot of menial fictitious stuff that is obviously fabricated and really slows the delivery of this whole thing down.

 

The way this feature is shot doesn't look good, it is a film that is entirely comfortable with average wides, tracking and framing. The editing also lends itself to a slow pace that will not engage the viewer, there really needed to be a snappier feel to this in places. The score is whimsical and over the top, I thought this would pair nicer with a Disney Channel family film than a dramatic biopic. 

Tracey Bonner, who played Rose, is a best friend/confidant figure who really doesn't get much of an established personality herself; Bonner's role often feels like a scene needed someone for the leads to bounce lines off and this very two-dimensional character was the best they had. Carl Clemons-Hopkins, who played Jeremy, is kind of a best friend figure to Snook but really gives nothing to the story; I was also a bit unconvinced with the lack of chemistry he and Snook shared. Jason Burkey, who played Blaine, is quite a stereotypical business exec role; Burkey gives off the simplistic cocky and dominant energy with no substance behind it. Delaney Quinn and Madison Johnson, who played Maren and Ava respectively, are very present as young performers but fail to stand out; often the scenes use these young girls as part of the background rather than defining their role in the story. Kurt Yaeger, who played Billy, really didn't have the screen time for me to learn or care about him much; most of all I was just never convinced that Yaeger and Banks had any kind of history together. Hari Dhilon, Sweta Keswani and Ajay Friese, who played Arjun Kumar, Neeti Kumar and Deshad respectively, just felt like quite a poorly realised depiction of a migrant/second generation in America story; this subplot could have enhanced Viswanathan's story but the film really gave this ensemble nothing substantial.

One of the uglier biopics I've watched recently with no sense of drama, conflict or hook to draw the audience in. I would give The Beanie Bubble a 5.5/10.