The Michael Jordan Nike shoe line. Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. The BlackBerry phone. Tetris. And now, Beanie Babies. The 2023 movie season has seen no shortage of rise-and-fall origin stories about some of the world’s most popular and crazed brands. And there doesn’t seem to be a sign of stopping ahead.

Whether or not anybody really asked for them, this trend has taken the industry by storm with varying degrees of success. The formula is rigid, taken from familiar biopics released in the past few decades — even when the stories themselves often portray people who think outside-of-the-box and bring in innovative, new ideas that trump what was firmly in place beforehand. It’s in this clear distinction that these unbelievable stories often find themselves trapped, making them feel like something audiences have seen before despite how extraordinary the accomplishments themselves actually are.

The Beanie Bubble is yet another one of these biopics that unfortunately finds itself stuck in this predicament. But that’s not to say that it doesn’t have other qualities that make it stand out: even if just barely.

Directed by Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash and adapted from the 2015 book “The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute” by Zac Bissonnette, this Apple TV+ film follows the story of three brilliant women who were instrumental creative minds behind Ty Beanie Bubbles. Cutting between two different timelines in the 80s and 90s, Gore and Kulash take a look at the systematic barriers preventing these women from being acknowledged for their crucial contributions, beginning when they each individually meet Ty Warner (Zach Galifianakis) to when their stories become forever intertwined by the end.

In the film’s opening montage, we get introduced to the three main female characters, starting with Sheila (Sarah Snook), the mother of two daughters who served as the inspiration for the very first Beanies. Next, there’s college student Maya (Geraldine Viswanathan), who lands a job as a phone receptionist at the company before becoming Ty’s go-to person for any and all internet advice. Finally, Robbie (Elizabeth Banks) first launched the company with Ty, helping make the company a big sensation before anybody even knew the name Beanie Bubble.

These three women are the core of what made Warner’s business run successfully, whether it be the creative inception of ideas, harnessing the new but quickly growing power of the internet, or the financial logistics behind it all. And watching their individual stories come together is the most emotionally powerful part of The Beanie Bubble.

The performances given by the three female leads are all impressive and elevate a script that can’t quite rise above the unfortunate feeling of being just fine and nothing more. Coming right off of the Succession (2018-2023) finale, Snook once again proves her undeniable screen presence, bringing to life Sheila’s endless efforts to make the best life possible for her daughters. Banks is also very good here, but the standout is, without a doubt, Viswanathan, who plays Maya with a kind of nuance and strength that makes her the most interesting character to watch. And as Ty Warner himself, Galifianakis is just fine, although a bit too one-note to leave any real impact.

Even though the film frequently (and thankfully) reminds audiences what year the story is jumping to next, the constant moving back and forth between different time periods can feel a bit frantic during the first act. Episodic, even: especially in trying to piece together how all of these pieces fit together and what story is exactly being told. Once the arcs for these characters get set in motion by the halfway point, though, it’s clear how this storytelling device does have its merits, allowing Gore (who also wrote the screenplay) and Kulash to keep the story moving fluidly while exploring the distinct but always deeply connected links between Robbie, Sheila, and Maya.

At times, the insistence on exposition and fast montages — typical in all kinds of biopic origin stories like these — can short-cut crucial moments of tension. This is especially evident in Ty’s relationship with Robbie, serving as the film’s beginning anchor point on its decade-spanning timeline. In the pivotal moments when conflict starts to build between Ty and Robbie, mirroring the arc of Ty’s relationship with Sheila and Maya, a quick montage showing Robbie’s growing discontentment and frustration towards Ty undercuts what could’ve been an emotionally resonant moment.

The biggest issue here overall is that the film itself is still too interested in the shiny, product-based exterior of capitalism to fully explore the inner workings of the greedy practices of big corporations. This sadly undercuts the relevant critiques that Gore and Kulash attempt to make about these practices, as well as how women like Robbie, Sheila, and Maya get shut down within this system.

For a film following a very specific kind of structure, The Beanie Bubble is thankfully still entertaining enough to make for a decent watch. But this story could’ve been so much more. In trying to simultaneously tell the story of how the Beanie Babies came to life, the U.S. craze behind the product in the 90s, and the three women that helped build the company to its highest peak, each of these important components lose some of their staying power.

Ironically enough, the directors get trapped in their own corporate bubble here. And it’s a bubble that never quite pops.

Review Courtesy of Matt Minton

Feature Image via Apple TV+