The Beanie Bubble

When thinking about this review and the movie, I kept getting drawn back to how flamboyant the characters were and then it struck me. I was watching characters apparently 'borrowed' from The Righteous Gemstones. I know it was the 80's but it was a little cartoonish.

The characters are also presented in such a way that shows most of them in a pretty poor light. Except for the Maya character who was presented in the film as the great underbelly of the company.

Has some entertaining moments and is often interesting but lacks any depth perhaps as its presented more as a comedy than a drama or bio film :)

This is a hell of a story. Great costume design and cinematography. Good acting. Nicely developed characters. Colors play a huge role and are on point. The way the story told is really annoying. While I don't mind the jumping back and forth through the years as long as I know when we're at, there were a few occasions they didn't put the year on and that caused a little timeline confusion. It's a story about a downfall of a vain man-child who couldn't grow up. It's also a story about investing in the dumbest of things. It's a solid 4 star piece that I'll gladly watch again only for the beautiful colors and the great makeup on Zack Galifianakis' face.

For those living in the 90s, Beanie Babies were all the craze. As a little kid, I remember everyone wanting them and seeing them all over. So, it is no surprise that nostalgia for the 90s would make people want to relive this crazy. However, this story was already told fairly effectively in the documentary Beanie Mania with the people who actually lived it. Now that doesn't mean that there can't be an effective film about this story too. It is also worth noting that this movie is from the perspective of the people behind the Beanie Babies and not the collectors. However, this movie just felt like it was missing something. For one, the filmmakers changed some details to fit the story they wanted to tell. Director Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash explained why they needed to make some key changes to real-life events. "It went through many drafts," said Kristin. "And then we developed this idea of wanting to tell more of a fable and a universal story." Also, the cast is a mixed bag. Zach Galifianakis seems like a strange choice to play TY, as the real-life TY was somewhat of a recluse, unlike Galifianakis. Also, it feels like Galifianakis was using this movie to make a comeback which seemed strange. Similarly, Geraldine Viswanathan is a good actor but felt out of place here, and she was more of a way to move the plot along than an actual character most of the time (and mostly fictional). Lastly, Elizbeth Banks can be hit or miss in her movies. She is super cute in this movie but has a couple of cringe moments. And it seems most of her character was fictional. They even had to change her name because Ty's real sister was so different from Bank's character in the movie. That being said it wasn't a bad movie. As I said, it just felt like it was missing something. My recommendation is to watch Beanie Mania first, and if you still need some Beanie Baby nostalgia, that's not exactly true, then give watch this.

Having read some of the reviews on here I almost gave this one a miss.

Im glad I didn't .

This was a cracking little movie.

Great performances by everyone .

The story was interesting , the acting was too notch and I was entertained from start to finish .

I knew nothing about these toys and I was blown away by their story.

Elizabeth Banks never fails to deliver so I was expecting greatness from her but Sarah Snook, Geraldine Viswanathan and Zach Galifianakis also kill it.

You are really brought on a journey and feel all the highs and lows that the actual people must have gone through .

Give this one a go.

It doesn't disappoint.

A very interesting movie about the back story behind the craziness of the Beanie plush toy ...I remember the beanie babies ...who crazy people where getting with them...it depict rather well how crazy the last part of the 80's, the 90's. The social trend of the day, the arrival of the WWW/internet. All this with a very good rhythm.

How this young woman daughter of immigrant saw that the net could be used to measure demand, increase sale etc she was year ahead of the rest. It also depict the founder of the Ty Toy Corp. How this man-child could manipulate people while maintaining his child like creativity. This emotionally abused man was generous only to outsider, to insider he was repeating the pattern he learn from his father.

Based on some of the truth behind the crave that was the beanie babies ...fetching price on the after market that parallel the tulip bulb in the Renaissance Holland...(the first but not the last case study of crazy speculation cause by imbalance between desirability & limited supply).

The choice of going back & forth could be an issue for some. But it does finally make a circle on itself.