The Magic Bubble Reviews

The only magic in THE MAGIC BUBBLE is previously unheralded actress Diane Salinger, shining in a showcase role. Affluent housewife Julia Cole (Diane Salinger) is blue because of her 40th birthday. Among gifts she sullenly accepts from her yuppie friends is an anonymous bottle of bubble solution. "I wish I didn't know how old I was," Julia moans and blows a smoke-filled bubble. The wish comes true, and Salinger takes the character straight from sour to sweet, a reborn Julia who dresses like a teenager, giggles, flirts, acts on impulse, and generally delights everyone except fuddy-duds. The neglected Cole kids don't mind; they now have a cool mom who even coaches her boy at Little League. But rigidly conformist, ad-exec husband Charles (John Calvin) is first horrified, then outraged when Julia drags her grumpy mother-in-law (Priscilla Pointer) on a dream vacation to Vegas, where the feisty old lady wins big, then expires of a coronary. Despite Julia's assurance that she died happy, Charles talks divorce--until Julia urges him to blow a magic bubble and gain a youthful attitude too. There's no clue to the origin of that bubble fluid, though insipid New Age feelgoodisms can only mean "Made in California," as a chemically-enhanced heroine gets in touch with her inner child and spreads positive vibes among uptight associates (Julia and Charles are stated to be ex-hippies). Though the synthetic whimsy and trite situations may give disbelieving viewers gray hairs, it's hard not to be captivated by Salinger's vivacious enthusiasm as she transforms from walking headache to free spirit. Copyrighted 1992 as UNBECOMING AGE, THE MAGIC BUBBLE aged on a shelf for a few years before bursting on the home-video market in 1995. By then, the performer who had broken through to stardom was not Salinger but supporting actor George Clooney (in the hit TV medical drama "ER"). He plays a smitten suitor of Julia's whom she gently rebuffs in favor of her unappreciative husband. (Sexual situations, nudity, profanity.)