Evan Twohy's 'Bubble & Squeak' Is Misguided & Weak

On an idyllic honeymoon in a traditional (unnamed) European country, Delores (Sarah Goldberg) and Declan (Himesh Patel) immediately run into diplomatic issues. They are sequestered by a state security officer, Bkofl (Steven Yeun), in a sterile, office-like interrogation room and told they are suspected of smuggling cabbages into the country. During a traumatic war in the country’s history, cabbages were the sole foodstuff available to feed the population – to forcibly move on from the memory of the conflict, cabbages have been banned on pain of death.

This state-enforced scarcity has given smugglers a lucrative but dangerous opportunity to reap black market riches, and it’s clear from the bulbous, baggy pants that Delores is wearing in the interrogation room that she has decided to roleplay a bootlegger for her romantic getaway.

With its boxy aspect ratio and oft-center composition, Bubble & Squeak signals its quirky, mannered comic tone before you realize every character will articulate their every inane thought in a clipped, deadpan voice. Wes Anderson is an easy comparison but an incomplete one – what makes Anderson’s symmetrical blocking and penchant for assertive but stilted characters so appealing is that his films are rich with humanity. The pristine form is broken with imperfections: naturalistic, spontaneous outbursts, composure affected by real frustration and passion. More than anything, Anderson’s films are moving. To be fair to writer-director Evan Twohy, Bubble & Squeak should not be graded against the standard of an influential and experienced filmmaker – the problem with Twohy’s first feature-length expression of his own voice is how flat and misguided his satire on modernity feels.