THE BEANIE BUBBLE – A Review by John Strange
Beanie Babies were a weird craze that went to heights (or lows, depending upon which side of the craze you found yourself on) not seen before. Ty Warner (Zach Galifianakis) was the inventor of the dolls. He brought in Robbie Jones (Elizabeth Banks), a woman working in a dead-end job to help him. Later, Maya Kumar (Geraldine Viswanathan), a 17-year-old college student, came on board.
Robbie was the sales guru while Maya’s expertise was computers and manipulating the fans to buy and trade their beanies.
I was one of those people who enjoyed buying various Beanie Babies, but I never went nuts over it (though some who did, went on to make millions of dollars with their trades). The craze went to extremes no one could have predicted.
This could have been an excellent film, but the filmmakers decided to go back and forth between the 80s and 90s, telling the stories in vignettes that sadly made the story more and more confusing as it went deeper and deeper into the somewhat bizarre life that Ty Warner led.
This is an interesting story but will only make sense if you can keep multiple plotlines that snake around each other on their way to a conclusion or, like me, you lived through that era. Sorry, but my rating is a generous 3.5 stars.
Director: Kristin Gore, Damian Kulash
Cast: Sarah Snook, Elizabeth Banks, Geraldine Viswanathan, Zach Galifianakis
MPAA Rating: R (for language)
Selig Rating: 3.5 Stars
Runtime: 110 Min.
Release Date: 07/28/2023 (Theatrical and on Apple TV+)
Local Release Locations: Angelika Film Center & Café – Dallas
Language: English
Trailer: THE BEANIE BUBBLE Trailer
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie/show, well worth the time and price.
4 Stars – Good movie/show
3 Stars – OK movie/show
2 Stars – Well, there was nothing else…
1 Star – Total waste of time.
