Details from IMDB:
Barbie
Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
Initial Thoughts:
Life is full of surprises, I’ll be honest I really never thought I would hear great reviews about a movie about “Barbie”, have it be a hit, and for me to be the one interested in seeing it, not my wife but that’s what happened today. I had heard plenty of good stuff about the movie, it was at the right time, and with our only IMAX screen no longer showing “Dead Reckoning” we went.
Main Points:
So yeah full disclosure this was certainly not my first pick but I think Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are excellent actors and I enjoy most of the movies they’re done. Also, it’s worth stating now that I will never understand what it’s like for a woman and I’m sure a woman would get more out of this movie and explain it better but I’ll do my best. I’m also going to get political here for a bit, if you’re a person who thinks this movie is too “woke” and that it hurts society/you/men, just stop it, you’re the problem and the movie is clearly showing that. Society was never supposed to be a patriarchy, women make up almost 51% of the population and deserve representation in all aspects of the world, once again if you disagree you are the problem, it’s that simple.
Ok, I’m off my soapbox, for now, I enjoyed this movie, while it has a lot of serious moments/themes it also is funny, touching, and has some great performances. Margot Robbie is amazing, the movie looks fantastic, I laughed, and I found myself caught up in some good emotional/meaningful speeches. The movie does a great job showing us what’s wrong with society and yes a big part of that is the way men act but it’s also the whole structure that needs to be changed. Will Ferrell has a fairly small part but still gets a few laughs, I also thought Simu Liu is mostly wasted. Michael Cera steals most scenes he is in and if you look closely you’ll see John Cena in a couple of good ones too. The movie stuck with me afterward and made me think about how I act, I think I’m a lot better than I was but I’m sure I could still do better when it comes to sexist attitudes/words/behavior around women and I’d love to see women in charge of the world, I think it’s fair to say men have fucked it up badly, I think they could do much better.
Final Thoughts:
I think when you hear about a movie a lot you build expectations up in your head and you end up disappointed a lot of the time. This was somewhat the case for me, I had heard about how amazing Ken’s speech was, for example, and while it was good, it just didn’t impress me as much as I thought it would. I’m certainly not the right demographic for this movie either, though of course, I know some men did play with Barbie’s during childhood. Overall though I quite enjoyed it and I give it 7.5 out of 10. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to see a movie that’s got heart, excellent acting, a good story, plenty of levity, and most importantly will make you think about your actions and the way the world is, then go see it. I found the two hours flew by and it’s a great length too. I think there is plenty here for a guy to enjoy and offering to take your significant other to go see it is a nice thing to do, it’s what the world needs more of. I was surprised that while there were plenty of kids (too young to see it, it is PG-13) and while they were quiet, I think due to coarse language and some suggestive dialogue ages 13+.