Bubble

We used to champion Steven Soderbergh for his versatility and, even more so, the utterly spastic subversion that he wrought with the little-seen Schizopolis. But then he kept inserting Julia Roberts into his films, and, by the time of Ocean’s Eleven and Twelve, seemed to have coasted off, down Easy Street. Now he appears to have reverted to his oddball ways with this tale; shot in a depressed Ohio town, it uses resident, nonprofessional actors who plod through a plot that is at times comically dull. Resolutely avoiding glamour and artfulness and escapism, Bubble calls to mind such disparate films as Dogville, Waiting for Guffman, and American Job. Whether it’s crucial or inconsequential or both, Soderbergh seems to be trying to say something about Americans and American film. www.landmarktheatres.com