Barbie!

[Prrambulate]

Who’s watching this? I think it’s going to have a massive opening week in the UK.

I’m so intrigued. At once a very subversive film, penned by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach; on another level, a film so heavily marketed that it seems to have entered the cultural mainstream. I wonder how it will straddle those tensions.

I was sort of dragged along by DP and DD and was expecting to be very bored, but overall I actually really loved it! It was funny, touching, clever and it was the first film I saw in a long while where I didn't check my watch.

I would have liked more of a nod to the LGBT community. I think there was one reference, but was very much done in a comedic way, so for me it's not flawless, but overall I was very pleasantly surprised and I've already suggested to friends that we go and see it together.

Absolutely this.

Oh and like others, I also welled up a few times. One of the conversations Barbie has with weird Barbie at the end, bizarrely struck a chord with me and felt very similar to a conversation I had with DP recently. Also the America F rant and general relationship with her daughter ❤️

I would have liked more of a nod to the LGBT community. I think there was one reference, but was very much done in a comedic way, so for me it's not flawless, but overall I was very pleasantly surprised and I've already suggested to friends that we go and see it together.

I noticed trans Barbie and the roller skating? I thought it was quite good because the film was about female empowerment so they didn't have too many other messages.

Actually that's a crude way of putting it, a trans woman played one of the Barbies, better explained here along with other LGBTQ+ actors

www.buzzfeed.com/josephlongo/barbie-lgbtq-actors-hari-nef-alexandra-shipp-scott-evans

Yes, I clocked that there was a trans actor playing a Barbie, but I don't believe the Barbie herself was supposed to be trans.

I didn't know who the old lady was. However, the important thing about it was in reference to death and before we all die, the expectation is you get old. However, in Barbie's world you stay the same age. Barbie seeing someone that could possibly be her and still appreciates her beauty was refreshing and not what Hollywood would have you believe.

I was also surprised by the trailer (can't remember the name of the film) that had a group of women singing the opening to WAP and repeating the word 'whore'. I understand that Barbie is a 12, however.

I enjoyed it, it was funny and frothy.

The only people who found it anti-men are the ones who identify with Incel Ken - or who believe that that Incel-wannabe-alpha stereotype is what men are
My only criticism was that Barbie apologised to Ken for not giving him enough attention ("not every night had to be girls' night").
If anything it's an empowering message to young men - Barbie has her own jobs, dream house, car - she doesn't need you just because you're a man/Ken so you need to develop your own personality and interests and meet her as an equal.

i mean its a bit sad that ken didn't actually have his own home to go to and that wasn't addressed even afterthe revolution. he should have his own place!

The whore trailer was joy ride - its R rated in the USA - so not for anyone under 17 without a parent.
So a weird choice - kids can't see it - and it won't appeal to most adult women i imagine (half our cinema screening were 40+ upwards ladies).

Who said the police part in Barbie was unrealistic? Below is today's news

news.sky.com/video/sky-news-hears-from-three-women-who-say-they-were-strip-searched-without-justification-12927406

I really enjoyed it. Except for the heavy-handed monologue by America Ferrera. And the end which was odd.

Have never enjoyed Ryan G before this but he was so perfect. Loved the horses and the scene where the woman asked him the time.

I think people are overthinking the woman on the bench.

This is the first time Barbie sees an elderly woman (in her 90s, I believe) and she sees beauty in a very lived-in face and body. She's moved by that.

It doesn't need to be anything heavier than that. The fact that's a cameo by Ann Roth doesn't have to be an easter egg. As Freud said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

I thought it was terrific fun, although a bit confused towards the end. I'd have perferred the vote to have taken place, because if there's a Ken for every Barbie, Allan could have been our casting vote against the patriarchy.

Instead, it was flatter those dumb men until they fight amongst themselves.

Still, that got us the dance battle dream sequence which was an absolute hoot.

"Ken, in any other world I'd be a 10... see the man behind the tan..."

“I'd have perferred the vote to have taken place, because if there's a Ken for every Barbie, Allan could have been our casting vote against the patriarchy.”

I’m pretty sure it was just Kens voting.

If Allan got to vote so would have Midge 😂
Did Weird Barbie have a Ken equivalent??

I don’t think the Kens were differentiated in the way the Barbies were? I think they all Just Ken and “did beach”.

@GCAcademic I think I would quite like a job that is just “beach” 😂😂😂

I loved it.

I got a bit weepy about the mother-daughter relationship. When they were playing together when Sasha was little, and then her growing independence/teenage rejection to her mum which is a very good thing but can be painful at the same time.

And the point about young girls and the messages as a parent you try to give that they can do anything and be anything, and then the juxtaposition of the big wide world sending an entirely different message.

I loved the way the film played around with the Bechdel test - eg with Gloria’s husband in the real world. And obviously the Kens of course in Barbieland.

It was funny (laugh out loud at points) and clever and daft. As a pp said the battle of the Kens and the dream sequence was brilliant.

My husband says he's going to put that on the next census

Me too, I’m not sure that the Kens had it so bad after all! 😂

@CaptainMyCaptain oh that would be so awesome if every male in the country put that.
Except ones called Allan - obviously 😂

I have clearly been reading too much about Barbie but the inventor's daughter is Barbara as we all know but in addition to that her son was Kenneth and RL Barbara's husband was Allen!

Saw it today. I enjoyed it. Most films have flaws and it’s a refreshing change to see a film with a strong female cast and female director.

I loved the design — the costumes, the colour palettes, just the whole look of the backdrops etc. And the way they'd recreated Barbie homes and accessories. I'd love to wander around the set!

I liked a lot of it, but felt it dragged in a few places.

Saw it yesterday and loved it. Agree any negative reviews I’ve read have been mainly written by men. And that’s fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but mainly IMO it’s tricky to review a love-letter to a toy you probably never played with. I don’t understand the point of subbuteo and wouldn’t go to a film about it either. I didn’t ever get a Barbie, but I used to play with them at other people’s houses and used to dream of being the child that got everything Barbie owned in the Littlewoods and Argos catalogues so I feel like I knew all of the products referred to in great detail 😂

Weird Barbie was a genius idea.

I thought that the mother-daughter scenes playing were lovely and I’ll confess to welling up at that point but also so very grateful I was sat with DD just the two of us, having a lovely time at the cinema.

I judge a film by how many times I look at my watch. I didn’t look once.