PARK CITY – Here’s the good news. There isn’t one actor in Evan Twohy‘s directorial debut, “Bubble & Squeak,” who doesn’t deliver a committed, funny performance. The film’s leads, the always-good Himesh Patel and Sarah Goldberg have fantastic chemistry as a couple on the run in a fictional foreign country. Steven Yeun, also a producer, pulls out an unexpected Eastern European accent as a customs officer and Dave Franco comes correct as an international smuggler who uses a bear suit for cover. But the best part of this 2025 Sundance Film Festival world premiere is Matt Berry as Officer Shazbor. Berry intentionally plays the character as if he’s Werner Herzog and it’s as close to comedy heaven as you can get. You just wish he was in it more.
The plot of the grab bag of absurdist filmmaking is pretty simple. A newly married couple, Declan (Patel) and Delores (Goldbert) have decided to save money by taking their honeymoon in a small European country most tourists avoid. Unfortunately, they are stopped at the border suspected of smuggling cabbages on their transatlantic flight. Cabbages? Yes, cabbages. This nation has banned the vegetable because it was the only thing they could eat during the Great War, and, well, multi-generational PTSD is a thing, I guess. Deeclan and Delores soon learn their choices to get out of custody aren’t great. They can either have Shazbor cut off their fingertips and beat them with a metal rod until they confess or they can admit their guilt and pick which of the two should die in a public firing squad. Yikes.
The couple decides to hightail it and escape into a nearby forest. As they do, the audience discovers that despite insisting she’s innocent, yes, Delores has at least 20 or more cabbages stuffed down her pants. Cabbages, she continues to claim are not there.
As they race through the woods avoiding Shazbor’s seemingly incompetent forces, they meet Norman (Franco) who is also smuggling cabbages into the country in his bear suit. Norman gives them a tip about a train station on the other side of the forest that could get them out of the country. He also is a foil to demonstrate that Declan and Delores’ marriage may not be on solid ground. They may not even like each other. That’s the less compelling aspect of Twohy’s screenplay.
During a post-screening Q&A, Twohy volunteered that he was inspired by filmmakers Roy Anderson, Charlie Kaufman, and Wes Anderson, among others when making the movie. In hindsight, perhaps he was too influenced. When the laughs fade, the tone feels all too familiar. Despite superb work behind the camera and some picturesque Estonian locations, “Bubble” is less original than it wants to be. Not ideal for a movie about two cabbage smugglers on the run.
There is one inspired scene that almost saves the proceedings. A moment where Declan and Delores imagine their futures while eating an exorbitant amount of cabbages. It’s creative, hints at Twohy’s talent, and has you feeling genuine sympathy for those actors (even if they spit them out in a bucket, it’s a ton of cabbages to even pretend to eat). It’s also meant to stir your heartstrings but invokes a sense of melancholy instead.
Twohy wants to use this farcical narrative to explore how a couple realizes they are not meant for each other. That their true desires emerge when confronted with unexpected (and perhaps deadly) challenges. Despite Patel and Goldberg’s best efforts it’s easy to recognize that from the first scene. So, if you aren’t invested then, why would you be at the end? [C+]
