2025 Sundance Film Festival Movie Review: Bubble & Squeak

Bubble & Squeak follows Declan (Himesh Patel) and Delores (Sarah Goldberg), a recently married couple who are on their honeymoon in a country that has banned cabbage. They get stopped by customs where a customs agent (Steven Yeun) informs them that they got word an American couple was trying to smuggle in cabbage to their country. Declan has no idea what the customs agent is talking about and Delores’ pants are full of heads of cabbage, unbeknownst to Declan. The two escape customs and are now fugitives in the country. They are being hunted by an officer named Shazbor (Matt Berry), who has a vendetta against cabbage and those who try and smuggle cabbage into the country.

Bubble & Squeak is a strange film. It is set in an unknown, European-like country and they hate cabbage because there was a war in that country and all they could eat during the war was cabbage and they became sick of it, so they banned it. It’s an absurd premise, but a rather amusing one, though they say the word “cabbage” so much that a large man would die of alcohol poisoning if they took a drink every time they said the word. What makes it amusing is the seriousness of how the actors talk about cabbage and their speech cadences. There is a very specific style of speaking with every character. It’s quick, methodical, and almost robotic. Credit to all the actors for delivering the lines perfectly and hysterically.

So why would Delores stuff her pants with several heads of cabbage knowing it is illegal to do in this country? That is never officially answered, but the reason could be that Delores is looking for excitement in her life due to Declan’s straight, unexciting way of living. Declan is an analytics manager who reads the guidebooks of the places they are visiting and the manuals on airplanes. Delores has seemingly accepted this life, but she wants to do more. She wants to swim with jellyfish and go mountain climbing, things Declan has seemingly no interest in doing. Their time as fugitives brings up questions about how compatible they are as a couple and causes disagreements along the way, most notably during the time they spend with another cabbage smuggler (a scene-stealing Dave Franco). The quirkiness of the film, while funny, took away from its emotional core and the end of the film didn’t hit any emotional beats for me. But I laughed more in Bubble & Squeak than I did in any comedy last year found it original and unique.

Bubble & Squeak premiered in the US Dramatic Category at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

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