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 are stopped by customs, where a customs agent (Steven Yeun) informs them that they received word that an American couple is trying to smuggle cabbage into 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 cabbages and those who try to smuggle cabbage into the country.

Bubble & Squeak is a strange film. It is set in an unknown, European-like country. The people of this country hate cabbage because there was a war, and all they could eat during the war was cabbage. They grew sick of it and eventually 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 with which the actors talk about cabbage and their speech cadences. Each character has a particular style of speaking. 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 so in this country? That is never officially answered, but the reason could be that Delores is seeking 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 seems to have 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 amusing, took away from its emotional core, and the ending failed to hit any emotional beats for me. However, I laughed more in Bubble & Squeak than I did in most of the comedy films released last year, so that has to account for something.

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

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