Bubble Boy Wikipedia film page

Bubble Boy (film)
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Bubble Boy
Bubble Boy movie poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Blair Hayes
Produced by
Beau Flynn
Written by
Cinco Paul
 Ken Daurio
Starring
Jake Gyllenhaal
Swoosie Kurtz
Marley Shelton
Danny Trejo
John Carroll Lynch
Music by
John Ottman
Cinematography
Jerzy Zielinski
Edited by
Pamela Martin

Production
 company

Touchstone Pictures

Distributed by
Buena Vista Pictures

Release dates
 August 24, 2001

Running time
 84 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$13,000,000 (estimated)
Box office
$5,007,898
Bubble Boy is a 2001 comedy film directed by Blair Hayes and stars Jake Gyllenhaal in the title role, written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio.[1] It was inspired by the 1976 movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.[2] A musical by the same name was written by the same authors and first performed in 2008.[2]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links

§Plot[edit]


 This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (June 2011)
Jimmy Livingston was born without an immune system and is forced to live in a sterilized dome in his bedroom, earning him the title "Bubble Boy" by his neighbors. Jimmy's devout Christian mother only exposes him to Highlights magazine and the Land of the Lost for entertainment. When he is a teenager, a girl named Chloe moves in next door. Jimmy is immediately taken with her, and eventually befriends her despite his mother's discouragement.
One day, Chloe visits Jimmy and tells him that she is leaving for Niagara Falls to marry her boyfriend, Mark, in three days. Jimmy is upset by this revelation and they separate on bad terms. Later, Jimmy opens a gift Chloe had brought him, a homemade snow globe with the phrase I Love You written in it. Jimmy realizes that Chloe cares for him. Realizing how much he cares for her, Jimmy builds a mobile bubble suit and runs away from home, determined to stop the wedding.
On the first day of his journey, he's unable to afford a bus ride to Niagara Falls, but is picked up by an overly enthusiastic cult on a pilgrimage towards enlightenment. But after Jimmy unintentionally offends the cult (by referring to them as a cult), he is marooned in the desert. By this time, Jimmy's mother has discovered her son missing, so she and her husband set off to find Jimmy.
While traveling through the desert, Jimmy meets Slim, a biker with a flat tire. Jimmy offers to fix the flat with some patches and the two become friends. Elsewhere, Gil, the leader of the cult Jimmy met, has revealed their messiah is "the round one," and that whoever rejects him will suffer. The group who abandoned Jimmy regret their actions and set off to find him. Jimmy and Slim have traveled to Las Vegas in hopes of scoring enough money to get to Niagara Falls. However, Slim gets caught up in the Vegas life so Jimmy goes on without him. The cult runs into Slim in Vegas while asking for directions. Slim recognizes them from Jimmy's story and threatens them, only to have his bike destroyed by the cult bus. Enraged, Slim rallies a gang of bikers to get even.
While riding a motor scooter he won in Vegas, Jimmy is recognized by his parents, but veers off the road and boards a train filled with circus freaks and conducted by their "owner," Dr. Phreak. Dr. Phreak finds Jimmy and announces that he's keeping him as an attraction of his circus. Jimmy refuses, knocking him unconscious, allowing the circus freaks to escape.
Jimmy then wanders into a restaurant where an Indian man is being antagonized by the ignorant townspeople. When Jimmy tries to defend him, the townspeople begin to probe him about his suit, but panic and evacuate the restaurant when they misunderstand his illness. The sheriff locks him in the restaurant and quarantines it, unintentionally setting the building on fire. Luckily, Jimmy is saved by Pushpop, the Ice Cream & Curry truck driver he had defended earlier. He and Jimmy escape the town that now is in flames. Pushpop thanks Jimmy for his earlier kindness and agrees to take him to Niagara Falls. Meanwhile, Jimmy's parents have met up with Dr. Phreak, whom Jimmy's mother mistakes for a child and brings along with them. Elsewhere in Niagara Falls, Chloe is apprehensive about marrying Mark and can't stop thinking of Jimmy.
Later, Pushpop accidentally runs over a cow and feels he must atone for his actions, unable to continue the journey. Jimmy sets off on foot and ends up in a small town in Illinois. Here he meets Pappy, a cab driver who agrees to take him to Niagara Falls for $500. To earn the money Jimmy goes into a Japanese casino nearby and enters a mud wrestling competition with two women for a convenient prize of $500. Jimmy eventually wins, but just as he is about to leave he runs into the cult again. Proclaiming him as their chosen one, they plan on "releasing" Jimmy from his bubble. Luckily, the freaks have followed Jimmy and realizing he's in danger, disguise themselves as members of the cult and trick them into believing they're mutating for their earlier crimes against Jimmy. During this commotion, Slim and his bikers arrive on the scene. The Bikers, the Freaks, and the Cult all begin fighting to "save" Jimmy in their own ways. In the confusion, Jimmy escapes in the taxi.
On the last day of his journey, Pappy and Jimmy have now arrived in New York, but Pappy is unresponsive, having apparently died behind the wheel overnight, forcing Jimmy to abandon the moving taxi before it crashes. Jimmy tries to call Chloe to tell her of his success, only to reach her fiancé Mark, who rudely convinces him that Chloe doesn't really love him. Jimmy becomes depressed at this assumed rejection and calls Dr. Phreak, ready to assume his role as a freak like the others. However, his parents overhear Dr. Phreak's conversation, and upon learning his location, dump Dr. Phreak out of their (moving) car and rush to retrieve him.
When his parents pick him up, Jimmy and his father are sitting alone in the car. His father regrets that Jimmy is giving up when he is so close. Jimmy's father then looks the other way while Jimmy escapes to finish his mission. Upon his mother's discovering this, they begin chasing him down in the car, but a biplane swoops down out of nowhere and picks Jimmy up. The pilot is Pappy's brother, Pippy. Finally, Jimmy reaches Niagara Falls but falls out of the plane and into the Falls itself.
Jimmy manages to escape the water and arrives just in time to stop the wedding. He then removes his bubble suit, allowing him to touch the girl he loves for the first time. Upon kissing her, Jimmy collapses and presumably dies in front of everyone in the church, as well as all the people who have been chasing after him (the cult, the Freaks, the Bikers, and his parents). Jimmy's mother then (encouraged by her husband) confesses that Jimmy had developed an immune system when he was four, revealing that he is not actually dead at all and Jimmy's perfectly fine. Mrs. Livingston had hidden this fact from Jimmy to protect him from the "corrupting" world. Jimmy forgives her and resumes kissing Chloe.
Finally, Jimmy and Chloe are married with all of Jimmy's new friends in attendance. Jimmy's mom (who is revealed to be a former girlfriend of Slim nicknamed Wildfire) rides off with Slim and Jimmy's father. Pushpop has become the new leader of the former cult who are apparently now followers of Hinduism. Dr. Phreak has befriended his band of freaks. Pippy and Pappy (who've reconciled after a past disagreement) drive off with Jimmy and Chloe to their honeymoon.
§Cast[edit]

Crystal Clear app kedit.svg
 This section may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (December 2014)
Jimmy Livingston – Jake Gyllenhaal
Mrs. Livingston – Swoosie Kurtz
Chloe – Marley Shelton
Slim – Danny Trejo
Mr. Livingston – John Carroll Lynch
Dr. Phreak – Verne Troyer
Mark – Dave Sheridan
Pushpop – Brian George
Pappy/Pippy – Patrick Cranshaw
Chicken Man – Stephen Spinella
Lisa – Ever Carradine
Flipper Boy – Geoffrey Arend
Lil' Zip – Beetlejuice
Human Sasquatch – Matthew McGrory
Rubber Woman – Bonnie Morgan
Working Girl – Stacy Keibler
Gil – Fabio Lanzoni
Bus Stop Man – Zach Galifianakis
Lorraine – Arden Myrin
Todd – Pablo Schreiber
§Reception[edit]
The film opened at #13 at the U.S. Box office raking in $2,038,349 USD in its first opening weekend, being a box office bomb. The film also received mostly negative reviews from critics, and as of December 22, 2014 has a 29% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 82 reviews (24 "fresh", 58 "rotten"); the site's consensus states that "Bubble Boy bounces along with lame, offensive jokes that are more tasteless than funny." However, in recent years (perhaps due to it being placed in heavy rotation on Comedy Central), it has achieved the status of "cult comedy."[3]
§References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Mitchell, Elvis (2001-08-24). "The Bubble Boy (2001) FILM REVIEW; Boy With a Decent Spirit That No One Can Burst". The New York Times.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Bertholdo, Stephanie (31 Jan 2008). "'Bubble Boy: The Musical' coming". The Acorn. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
3.Jump up ^ [1]
§External links[edit]
Bubble Boy at the Internet Movie Database
Bubble Boy at Rotten Tomatoes
Bubble Boy at Box Office Mojo
  


Categories: English-language films
2001 films
2000s comedy films
American comedy films
Directorial debut films
Road movies
Touchstone Pictures films






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Bubble Boy (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Bubble Boy
Bubble Boy movie poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Blair Hayes
Produced by
Beau Flynn
Written by
Cinco Paul
 Ken Daurio
Starring
Jake Gyllenhaal
Swoosie Kurtz
Marley Shelton
Danny Trejo
John Carroll Lynch
Music by
John Ottman
Cinematography
Jerzy Zielinski
Edited by
Pamela Martin

Production
 company

Touchstone Pictures

Distributed by
Buena Vista Pictures

Release dates
 August 24, 2001

Running time
 84 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$13,000,000 (estimated)
Box office
$5,007,898
Bubble Boy is a 2001 comedy film directed by Blair Hayes and stars Jake Gyllenhaal in the title role, written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio.[1] It was inspired by the 1976 movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.[2] A musical by the same name was written by the same authors and first performed in 2008.[2]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links

§Plot[edit]


 This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (June 2011)
Jimmy Livingston was born without an immune system and is forced to live in a sterilized dome in his bedroom, earning him the title "Bubble Boy" by his neighbors. Jimmy's devout Christian mother only exposes him to Highlights magazine and the Land of the Lost for entertainment. When he is a teenager, a girl named Chloe moves in next door. Jimmy is immediately taken with her, and eventually befriends her despite his mother's discouragement.
One day, Chloe visits Jimmy and tells him that she is leaving for Niagara Falls to marry her boyfriend, Mark, in three days. Jimmy is upset by this revelation and they separate on bad terms. Later, Jimmy opens a gift Chloe had brought him, a homemade snow globe with the phrase I Love You written in it. Jimmy realizes that Chloe cares for him. Realizing how much he cares for her, Jimmy builds a mobile bubble suit and runs away from home, determined to stop the wedding.
On the first day of his journey, he's unable to afford a bus ride to Niagara Falls, but is picked up by an overly enthusiastic cult on a pilgrimage towards enlightenment. But after Jimmy unintentionally offends the cult (by referring to them as a cult), he is marooned in the desert. By this time, Jimmy's mother has discovered her son missing, so she and her husband set off to find Jimmy.
While traveling through the desert, Jimmy meets Slim, a biker with a flat tire. Jimmy offers to fix the flat with some patches and the two become friends. Elsewhere, Gil, the leader of the cult Jimmy met, has revealed their messiah is "the round one," and that whoever rejects him will suffer. The group who abandoned Jimmy regret their actions and set off to find him. Jimmy and Slim have traveled to Las Vegas in hopes of scoring enough money to get to Niagara Falls. However, Slim gets caught up in the Vegas life so Jimmy goes on without him. The cult runs into Slim in Vegas while asking for directions. Slim recognizes them from Jimmy's story and threatens them, only to have his bike destroyed by the cult bus. Enraged, Slim rallies a gang of bikers to get even.
While riding a motor scooter he won in Vegas, Jimmy is recognized by his parents, but veers off the road and boards a train filled with circus freaks and conducted by their "owner," Dr. Phreak. Dr. Phreak finds Jimmy and announces that he's keeping him as an attraction of his circus. Jimmy refuses, knocking him unconscious, allowing the circus freaks to escape.
Jimmy then wanders into a restaurant where an Indian man is being antagonized by the ignorant townspeople. When Jimmy tries to defend him, the townspeople begin to probe him about his suit, but panic and evacuate the restaurant when they misunderstand his illness. The sheriff locks him in the restaurant and quarantines it, unintentionally setting the building on fire. Luckily, Jimmy is saved by Pushpop, the Ice Cream & Curry truck driver he had defended earlier. He and Jimmy escape the town that now is in flames. Pushpop thanks Jimmy for his earlier kindness and agrees to take him to Niagara Falls. Meanwhile, Jimmy's parents have met up with Dr. Phreak, whom Jimmy's mother mistakes for a child and brings along with them. Elsewhere in Niagara Falls, Chloe is apprehensive about marrying Mark and can't stop thinking of Jimmy.
Later, Pushpop accidentally runs over a cow and feels he must atone for his actions, unable to continue the journey. Jimmy sets off on foot and ends up in a small town in Illinois. Here he meets Pappy, a cab driver who agrees to take him to Niagara Falls for $500. To earn the money Jimmy goes into a Japanese casino nearby and enters a mud wrestling competition with two women for a convenient prize of $500. Jimmy eventually wins, but just as he is about to leave he runs into the cult again. Proclaiming him as their chosen one, they plan on "releasing" Jimmy from his bubble. Luckily, the freaks have followed Jimmy and realizing he's in danger, disguise themselves as members of the cult and trick them into believing they're mutating for their earlier crimes against Jimmy. During this commotion, Slim and his bikers arrive on the scene. The Bikers, the Freaks, and the Cult all begin fighting to "save" Jimmy in their own ways. In the confusion, Jimmy escapes in the taxi.
On the last day of his journey, Pappy and Jimmy have now arrived in New York, but Pappy is unresponsive, having apparently died behind the wheel overnight, forcing Jimmy to abandon the moving taxi before it crashes. Jimmy tries to call Chloe to tell her of his success, only to reach her fiancé Mark, who rudely convinces him that Chloe doesn't really love him. Jimmy becomes depressed at this assumed rejection and calls Dr. Phreak, ready to assume his role as a freak like the others. However, his parents overhear Dr. Phreak's conversation, and upon learning his location, dump Dr. Phreak out of their (moving) car and rush to retrieve him.
When his parents pick him up, Jimmy and his father are sitting alone in the car. His father regrets that Jimmy is giving up when he is so close. Jimmy's father then looks the other way while Jimmy escapes to finish his mission. Upon his mother's discovering this, they begin chasing him down in the car, but a biplane swoops down out of nowhere and picks Jimmy up. The pilot is Pappy's brother, Pippy. Finally, Jimmy reaches Niagara Falls but falls out of the plane and into the Falls itself.
Jimmy manages to escape the water and arrives just in time to stop the wedding. He then removes his bubble suit, allowing him to touch the girl he loves for the first time. Upon kissing her, Jimmy collapses and presumably dies in front of everyone in the church, as well as all the people who have been chasing after him (the cult, the Freaks, the Bikers, and his parents). Jimmy's mother then (encouraged by her husband) confesses that Jimmy had developed an immune system when he was four, revealing that he is not actually dead at all and Jimmy's perfectly fine. Mrs. Livingston had hidden this fact from Jimmy to protect him from the "corrupting" world. Jimmy forgives her and resumes kissing Chloe.
Finally, Jimmy and Chloe are married with all of Jimmy's new friends in attendance. Jimmy's mom (who is revealed to be a former girlfriend of Slim nicknamed Wildfire) rides off with Slim and Jimmy's father. Pushpop has become the new leader of the former cult who are apparently now followers of Hinduism. Dr. Phreak has befriended his band of freaks. Pippy and Pappy (who've reconciled after a past disagreement) drive off with Jimmy and Chloe to their honeymoon.
§Cast[edit]

Crystal Clear app kedit.svg
 This section may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (December 2014)
Jimmy Livingston – Jake Gyllenhaal
Mrs. Livingston – Swoosie Kurtz
Chloe – Marley Shelton
Slim – Danny Trejo
Mr. Livingston – John Carroll Lynch
Dr. Phreak – Verne Troyer
Mark – Dave Sheridan
Pushpop – Brian George
Pappy/Pippy – Patrick Cranshaw
Chicken Man – Stephen Spinella
Lisa – Ever Carradine
Flipper Boy – Geoffrey Arend
Lil' Zip – Beetlejuice
Human Sasquatch – Matthew McGrory
Rubber Woman – Bonnie Morgan
Working Girl – Stacy Keibler
Gil – Fabio Lanzoni
Bus Stop Man – Zach Galifianakis
Lorraine – Arden Myrin
Todd – Pablo Schreiber
§Reception[edit]
The film opened at #13 at the U.S. Box office raking in $2,038,349 USD in its first opening weekend, being a box office bomb. The film also received mostly negative reviews from critics, and as of December 22, 2014 has a 29% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 82 reviews (24 "fresh", 58 "rotten"); the site's consensus states that "Bubble Boy bounces along with lame, offensive jokes that are more tasteless than funny." However, in recent years (perhaps due to it being placed in heavy rotation on Comedy Central), it has achieved the status of "cult comedy."[3]
§References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Mitchell, Elvis (2001-08-24). "The Bubble Boy (2001) FILM REVIEW; Boy With a Decent Spirit That No One Can Burst". The New York Times.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Bertholdo, Stephanie (31 Jan 2008). "'Bubble Boy: The Musical' coming". The Acorn. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
3.Jump up ^ [1]
§External links[edit]
Bubble Boy at the Internet Movie Database
Bubble Boy at Rotten Tomatoes
Bubble Boy at Box Office Mojo
  


Categories: English-language films
2001 films
2000s comedy films
American comedy films
Directorial debut films
Road movies
Touchstone Pictures films






Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Deutsch
Español
Italiano
日本語
Polski
Português
Русский
Edit links
This page was last modified on 6 March 2015, at 21:30.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Boy_(film)