Bubble Boy (film)
| Bubble Boy | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Blair Hayes |
| Produced by | Beau Flynn |
| Written by | Cinco Paul Ken Daurio |
| Starring | |
| Music by | John Ottman |
| Cinematography | Jerzy Zielinski |
| Edited by | Pamela Martin |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13 million |
| Box office | $5 million |
Bubble Boy is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Blair Hayes, starring Jake Gyllenhaal in the title role, and written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. It was inspired by the 1976 movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. A musical by the same name was written by the same authors and first performed in 2008.
Born without an immune system, Jimmy Livingston is forced to live in a sterilized dome in his bedroom, earning him the title "Bubble Boy" by his neighbors. Jimmy's overbearing and 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.
Chloe visits Jimmy and tells him that she is leaving for Niagara Falls to marry her boyfriend, Mark, in three days. 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. 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 set off to find him. Jimmy and Slim have traveled to Las Vegas for traveling money. 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.
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. 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.
...
Wikipedia