The Beanie Bubble

Although it provides a nostalgic kick for those of a certain generation, The Beanie Bubble is not as cute and cuddly as the titular toys.

That’s fitting for this behind-the-scenes expose of the company that launched the Beanie Baby craze in the early 1990s. However, as it awkwardly overlaps its trio of storylines through some chronological jumbling, the film lacks sufficient insight as a corporate satire while it struggles to gain emotional traction as an empowerment saga.

“We didn’t set out to make America lose its mind, but that’s what happened,” explains Roberta (Elizabeth Banks), one of three narrators whose perspectives we follow in parallel.

In 1984, Roberta meets aspiring toymaker Ty Warner (Zach Galifianakis) during a particularly vulnerable moment. They wind up becoming business partners and a bit more.

Ty Inc. rockets to prominence several years later when Ty rolls out Beanie Babies, which were softer and more portable than traditional stuffed animals. Limiting supply and distribution channels, the company maximized demand, eventually fueling a nationwide craze among adults and children alike.

By then, we’re introduced to two other women who figure prominently in Ty’s astonishing rise and run into his glass ceiling. Sheila (Sarah Snook) is a single mother wooed by Ty after her young daughters become his muses. Maya (Geraldine Viswanathan) starts with the company as a teenage receptionist and later spearheads marketing efforts, especially online.

Gaining fame, Ty’s eccentric ingenuity masks volatility in his personal life. He’s better at relating to plush creatures than those who are living and breathing. Beneath the neuroses, he’s a slick-talking charmer obsessed with beauty and appearance. Eventually, ego and vanity threaten to bring down his own empire from within.

The film marks a capable directorial debut for the husband-and-wife team of screenwriter Kristin Gore (War Story), daughter of former vice president Al Gore, and Damian Kulash, lead singer of the rock band OK Go.

Appropriately quirky given the true-life subject matter, Gore’s screenplay downplays the backdrop of the company’s rise during the dawn of e-commerce in favor of structural manipulation.

Along the way, despite some committed performances, it evolves into a familiar portrait of misogyny and capitalist greed in which the narrative details are clouded by the contemporary feminist lens.

The Beanie Bubble shines a worthwhile spotlight on the resilience of its three unheralded protagonists, but it feels overstuffed.

Rated R, 110 minutes.