The Beanie Bubble

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.

The Beanie Bubble is a movie about, well, the Beanie Bubble. It tells the story about their creator and the women who actually were behind everything. It does have multiple POVs and a lot of time jomps, but, once you get used to that, the movie unfolds nicely and its enjoyable to watch. The best part of it was, though, the colors! Bright and vibrant, they did give the movie a nice spin on the old and stuffy historical drama, and they made the movie fun to watch. The performances were also great by everyone in the cast, and the main leads did an excellent job with their characters. Though the story is okay on paper, those two factors did make the difference.

In 1983, Ty Warner (Zach Galifianakis) and his friend Robbie (Elizabeth Banks) start a plush toy business. His big idea is to under-stuffed them and make them softer. In 1993, medical student Maya (Geraldine Viswanathan) starts working as a receptionist at the company. Sheila (Sarah Snook) meets Ty as she sets up his home lighting.

This type of movies is fast becoming a genre of its own. Some call it corporate biopics. I'm calling it product-bio. First, they need a recognizable product that will generate nostalgia. Then they need some drama for the bio and they should make one up if it doesn't exist. They are good on the first part. Beanie Babies are definite 90's nostalgia-fuel. As for the drama, it exists here. The movie tries to present it in an interesting way by combining three women's stories. I do have an issue with Zach Galifianakis.

I thought he's gay at first even after dating Sheila. He needs to not put his spin on the character. At his heart, he's a slick salesman. He needs to set up his narcissism. The guy has real daddy issues with some juicy sexual aspects. Zach is playing it like an absent-minded professor. He may be the wrong guy to play this role.

The time jumping is fine, but it may be better to simplify it. After all, both Maya and Sheila come into the story at the same time. Maya is probably the most compelling story. I don't see the chemistry between Sheila and Ty. He has more chemistry with her daughters. Robbie's story is standard wronged woman. They really need to show the sexual tension a lot more and earlier. As far as this new genre goes, this entry is an average affair.

The film starts out telling the audience that they made up a lot of the script. That should be a clue.

As a movie, it's really well done and enjoyable. The acting is excellent, the costuming is fantastic, and the script moves it along very quickly. It's occasionally hard to follow, but this doesn't take away from the overall enjoyment. Elizabeth Banks is superb as the clever, crafty Robbie.

The story is told from three women's points of view - pretty much how they were wronged and deserved the credit for the Beanie Babies craze. If you recognize the "woman scorned" POV from the beginning, it's a lot more enjoyable as just a movie. It's certainly NOT a documentary -- if you want to see a more accurate depiction, watch Beanie Mania (2021). But if you just want an enjoyable flick, this is it.

I do not understand why some writers out there still choose to do the flashback back-and-forth style, even though it has proven each and every single time to be a terrible idea. There was no need for that here! This movie would've worked so much better without jumping back-and-forth in time. It was very distracting and it didn't help the story at all. There were maybe a couple of clever editing tricks that it helped with, but it wasn't worth it.

That being said, I thought it was an interesting story, even if it was all made up. Not sure however that making Ty act like a child was the right move.

Overall, this wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. Very mid.