Sometimes a movie only needs a good premise to sell people on it. That is the case with Bubble & Squeak, a movie that has been dubbed “the cabbage movie” at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where its outlandish premise has earned it widespread attention — or at least, curiosity. Its premise: a honeymooning couple travel to an unnamed fictional country that has banned cabbages, only to be apprehended by border security for smuggling cabbages in their pants. It’s as goofy as it sounds and lives up to its premise by employing a wry, absurdist tone and deadpan performances from leads Himesh Patel and Sarah Goldberg. But when the movie’s premise is the equivalent of a joke, and the punchline is delivered in less than 15 minutes, where else does the movie have to go from there? Bubble & Squeak never quite figures out the answer to that, but it does have some fun on the way.
The feature directorial debut of Evan Twohy, Bubble & Squeak opens with a bizarre image: a pan full of simmering cabbage pieces that, instead of making the usual sounds of cabbage cooking, emanate a chorus of deep human voices, gargling and moaning in place of the usual crackles and sizzles. Then, the image disappears, like a jumpscare, or a strange thing that we dreamed up.
