My 18-year-old girl saw it, said it was good (Barbie). Her boyfriend, an African, said his “manhood was challenged”.
I think I’ll give it a pass; I prefer to escape reality when I go to the movies, not be lectured. Even though it’s a fantasy. And Hari Nef. And the mockery of 1950s America.
It feels as though ours has become a society of lecturers and finger waggers. From screeching karens to black tiktokers scaring whites for views, morbidly obese proclaiming their innate beauty, college students crying about microaggressions… we have become a kind of “theater of the absurd, a parody of American civilization.
Social media have torn us apart, and knit us together in strange new ways. How will it end? The story is still being written, but don’t count on anyone in Hollywood to provide a spoiler.
Did the Barbenheimer and had a super time. I'm sick of Fox-think where everything is viewed through a political lense. Since Tucker was canned I've turned off the TV and really started enjoying life. Laughed all the way through Barbie, didn't over think it. Had a martini in between movies. Lovely day. Happu to be alive.
Excellent review — I also had fun! I’d only add one thing: the film really did parody the way in which Gen Z talks about politics and social issues. The overuse of “fascist”; the sanitization of language to such absurd lengths that we get “reality-challenged woman”; the lowering of the threshold for cultural appropriation to indict Barack Obama for so many sins (“yes, we can!”) — there’s a lot there. The story arc of the tween really did get her clued into her mom’s perspectives, and — as a result — there was a good deal that they had to teach each other, which was a beautiful thing. Many on the Right have been so vocal about the film before even viewing it, and it’d look silly to point out the “anti-woke” elements now. And on the flip side, few on the Left would probably have the appetite to point out where they might agree with their opposition. :)
I’ve read lots of reviews, there is unsurprisingly the Bell Curve of opinions.
But I gotta say, I have no interest in spending time or money on anything Hollywood puts out that even has a whiff of lefty (but I repeat myself) political moralizing. And clearly they managed to use Barbie as their latest platform for just that - both the message undercurrent + cringey moments.
Hard pass.
Next up on the docket: remake of Leave it to Beaver where Mom’s the hero breadwinner having to do it all, Dad’s a cringey buffoon who can’t do anything right (cue the laugh track), Wally is trans (fabulous and loving it!), and Beaver is a politically engaged Antifa furry who (in one hilarious scene!) punches Trump in his family jewels.
Maybe it's where I live (Gulf Coast of Florida), or where my head is at, but I've not seen reams of Barbie ads, billboards, or notices. I've seen, but not spent time, on a few articles talking about it. I suspect they're either calling it brilliant (as yours did) or just another attack on Western Civilization, which would fit todays 'balanced' narratives. (gotta have that yin and yang thing going).
On just an objective view, to me this is just another example of Hollywood having run out of ideas. It seems that the vast majority of what comes out of Hollywood for years now, are either sequels, prequels, movies based on comic books, or movies based on toys. Seriously- if the writers and producers ever went on strike, would anyone notice? What's that you say...?
I'm not against the movie 'Barbie' because I don't want to be preached at (though I don't). I'm just no more inclined to go see a Barbie movie than I would be to go buy a Barbie Doll. Clearly H'wood knows there are a lot of people like me out there, but they're betting on social media making it a thing to do for a few weeks. Enough to make a few bills. We'll see if works.
On the side, I'm getting a slew of tweets from the Gov. of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer using a Barbie doll in her tweets, and she, herself, dressing up like Barbie. Look- from my end, Whitmer is a colossal destroyer of life in the Great Lakes State. I don't live there, but I visit it, and had to watch my mom's last year through a window in that state while the Gov herself was up north in Michigan vacationing, as well as down here in Florida, while businesses and schools there were shut down. Her cynically playing Barbie and tagging onto the social media buzz to make nice to voters pretty much makes me nauseous. I know politicians are devoid of the ability to relate to everyday people, but this attempt to relate to the Barbie craze is pretty much spot on. Whitmer makes relating to people seem like hard work. She's pretty much as real a human as Barbie.
Anyway, I've clearly devolved into something other than comments on the movie. I just thought it was weird and- for me- out of context to see the Governor of a state playing Barbie. But then, it's Whitmer.
"...if it matters that Hari Nef, who is trans, plays a Barbie (it doesn’t.)" We have been witnessing the erasure of women and women's sex-based rights in the last couple of years. Vaginas are now semi-officially "bonus holes," girls are to share change rooms with men who "identify as women", women rights speakers are mobbed, no one seems to be able to define a "woman," but Dylan Mulvaney CERTAINLY is one. In this world, dear Suzy Weiss, the fact that Doctor Barbie is a trans is of foremost importance. The attempt to normalise the idea that men can be women, that men ARE women, if they feel like SAYING that they are, has apparently been successful with some. That's a shame. Apparently teens are not even talking about Doctor Barbie being trans, it is not a subject of conversation anymore. It is just how things are in their reality where war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength and men are women while women are "cis." I expected better from the Free Press.
I won't pay to see this movie. I will watch when I can stream. I have an original BARBIE doll and I adore her. Still own her to this day and I am 70. I never cared for Ken. I'm not really into blondes and I prefer my men WITH A HEALTHY DOSE OF TESTOSTERONE. AND the fact there is a TRANS BARBIE is 🤮🤮🤮
My stepdaughter and her mom had a war over Barbie. We would go to the toy store & mom would anxiously swindle her daughter into the Barbie section. (Oh, my. Look what we stumbled upon!) Daughter would roll her eyes, "Mom!" Mom, "Look at this one." Daughter, crossing arms, "Only if I can choose one." (Meaning toy.) Mom, insistent. Daughter, "Then no toys! I'll play with the hammer!" A Zax standoff.
At home mom gives daughter the Barbie she bought secretly. (When? She was with us the whole time.) Daughter, "Ooookaaaay."
Afternoon, mom has gone out with a friend, doubtless to commiserate over her wayward daughter. I find daughter out on back deck. I go out there and she has torn off the dress,👗, one leg and both arms. They are on the ground 15 feet below. Gleefully she tears off the head, then the last leg. She grins at me and announces SHE is going to put her new bookcase together. Her expression says she knows she needs help.
Mom is horrified. Again. But more so because she sees her daughter, gasp, holding a tool! "You can't be like a boy!"
The serial Barbie disassembler on another occasion threw a nerf ball half-way across the room and broke a curtain rod. She looked scared. Mom was horrified, again. I was dumbfounded. I got the nerf ball and checked it. Squishing it thoroughly revealed no added weight inside. I stared at her, then exclaimed, "Wow! What an arm!" To mom, "Baseball. She should play baseball."
Mom was, I think, terrified she would not have grandchildren. Not something I need to explain to a Weiss. I told mom not to worry. That marriage did not last.
Daughter did aeronautics degree. These days my former stepdaughter is married, 3 kids, and still has her rakish sense of humor, and quirky love of impropriety. Still a bit distant from mom. I still treasure her determined rending of barbie dolls. And I am happy she seems happy.
I don't need to see this movie to suspect that it would be leftist claptrap garbage, just like ALL the garbage coming out of hollywood. I already knew it would be chock full of hidden leftist propaganda that is in NO WAY appropriate for all the young girls who would be seeing it. Now, I am not a huge fan of Ben Shapiro, but I listened to his review of this movie. All I can say is this to all the mothers out there who are intending to take their daughters to this poor excuse for a movie. Listen to Shapiro's review first. Then make your decision. Do you really want to encourage the morons in hollywood who spend hundreds of millions to make garbage like this?
I have long referred to my childhood home as the "Barbie emporium." My two sisters and I breathed Barbie 24-7. Needless to say, we were giddy to learn about the upcoming movie, with plans to resurrect our hair crimpers and rent a pink convertible to drive to the theater together. Then the reviews and previews started to appear and I was crushed. Barbie went woke and I lost interest. However, this review gives me hope. Thanks for breaking down all the fun and the cringe. Maybe I'll put on my pink acrylic heels and go see the movie after all.
I mean- obviously Ken is disappointingly low T. He’s always been that way. That’s why my Barbies always dated my brothers’ G.I. Joes instead.
My 18-year-old girl saw it, said it was good (Barbie). Her boyfriend, an African, said his “manhood was challenged”.
I think I’ll give it a pass; I prefer to escape reality when I go to the movies, not be lectured. Even though it’s a fantasy. And Hari Nef. And the mockery of 1950s America.
It feels as though ours has become a society of lecturers and finger waggers. From screeching karens to black tiktokers scaring whites for views, morbidly obese proclaiming their innate beauty, college students crying about microaggressions… we have become a kind of “theater of the absurd, a parody of American civilization.
Social media have torn us apart, and knit us together in strange new ways. How will it end? The story is still being written, but don’t count on anyone in Hollywood to provide a spoiler.
Did the Barbenheimer and had a super time. I'm sick of Fox-think where everything is viewed through a political lense. Since Tucker was canned I've turned off the TV and really started enjoying life. Laughed all the way through Barbie, didn't over think it. Had a martini in between movies. Lovely day. Happu to be alive.
I went to "Sound of Freedom" instead.
Excellent review — I also had fun! I’d only add one thing: the film really did parody the way in which Gen Z talks about politics and social issues. The overuse of “fascist”; the sanitization of language to such absurd lengths that we get “reality-challenged woman”; the lowering of the threshold for cultural appropriation to indict Barack Obama for so many sins (“yes, we can!”) — there’s a lot there. The story arc of the tween really did get her clued into her mom’s perspectives, and — as a result — there was a good deal that they had to teach each other, which was a beautiful thing. Many on the Right have been so vocal about the film before even viewing it, and it’d look silly to point out the “anti-woke” elements now. And on the flip side, few on the Left would probably have the appetite to point out where they might agree with their opposition. :)
Darn, I hate it when you guys present a different point of view that leaves me thinking I might enjoy a movie I was going to pass on....
I’ve read lots of reviews, there is unsurprisingly the Bell Curve of opinions.
But I gotta say, I have no interest in spending time or money on anything Hollywood puts out that even has a whiff of lefty (but I repeat myself) political moralizing. And clearly they managed to use Barbie as their latest platform for just that - both the message undercurrent + cringey moments.
Hard pass.
Next up on the docket: remake of Leave it to Beaver where Mom’s the hero breadwinner having to do it all, Dad’s a cringey buffoon who can’t do anything right (cue the laugh track), Wally is trans (fabulous and loving it!), and Beaver is a politically engaged Antifa furry who (in one hilarious scene!) punches Trump in his family jewels.
Maybe it's where I live (Gulf Coast of Florida), or where my head is at, but I've not seen reams of Barbie ads, billboards, or notices. I've seen, but not spent time, on a few articles talking about it. I suspect they're either calling it brilliant (as yours did) or just another attack on Western Civilization, which would fit todays 'balanced' narratives. (gotta have that yin and yang thing going).
On just an objective view, to me this is just another example of Hollywood having run out of ideas. It seems that the vast majority of what comes out of Hollywood for years now, are either sequels, prequels, movies based on comic books, or movies based on toys. Seriously- if the writers and producers ever went on strike, would anyone notice? What's that you say...?
I'm not against the movie 'Barbie' because I don't want to be preached at (though I don't). I'm just no more inclined to go see a Barbie movie than I would be to go buy a Barbie Doll. Clearly H'wood knows there are a lot of people like me out there, but they're betting on social media making it a thing to do for a few weeks. Enough to make a few bills. We'll see if works.
On the side, I'm getting a slew of tweets from the Gov. of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer using a Barbie doll in her tweets, and she, herself, dressing up like Barbie. Look- from my end, Whitmer is a colossal destroyer of life in the Great Lakes State. I don't live there, but I visit it, and had to watch my mom's last year through a window in that state while the Gov herself was up north in Michigan vacationing, as well as down here in Florida, while businesses and schools there were shut down. Her cynically playing Barbie and tagging onto the social media buzz to make nice to voters pretty much makes me nauseous. I know politicians are devoid of the ability to relate to everyday people, but this attempt to relate to the Barbie craze is pretty much spot on. Whitmer makes relating to people seem like hard work. She's pretty much as real a human as Barbie.
Anyway, I've clearly devolved into something other than comments on the movie. I just thought it was weird and- for me- out of context to see the Governor of a state playing Barbie. But then, it's Whitmer.
"...if it matters that Hari Nef, who is trans, plays a Barbie (it doesn’t.)" We have been witnessing the erasure of women and women's sex-based rights in the last couple of years. Vaginas are now semi-officially "bonus holes," girls are to share change rooms with men who "identify as women", women rights speakers are mobbed, no one seems to be able to define a "woman," but Dylan Mulvaney CERTAINLY is one. In this world, dear Suzy Weiss, the fact that Doctor Barbie is a trans is of foremost importance. The attempt to normalise the idea that men can be women, that men ARE women, if they feel like SAYING that they are, has apparently been successful with some. That's a shame. Apparently teens are not even talking about Doctor Barbie being trans, it is not a subject of conversation anymore. It is just how things are in their reality where war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength and men are women while women are "cis." I expected better from the Free Press.
No mention of the scene with the girls bashing their Barbies into rocks and saying "I don't want to be a mother!"?
I enjoyed the review. I never even knew there was a Barbie movie until this morning. Guess small rural town living has a few advantages.
I won't pay to see this movie. I will watch when I can stream. I have an original BARBIE doll and I adore her. Still own her to this day and I am 70. I never cared for Ken. I'm not really into blondes and I prefer my men WITH A HEALTHY DOSE OF TESTOSTERONE. AND the fact there is a TRANS BARBIE is 🤮🤮🤮
My stepdaughter and her mom had a war over Barbie. We would go to the toy store & mom would anxiously swindle her daughter into the Barbie section. (Oh, my. Look what we stumbled upon!) Daughter would roll her eyes, "Mom!" Mom, "Look at this one." Daughter, crossing arms, "Only if I can choose one." (Meaning toy.) Mom, insistent. Daughter, "Then no toys! I'll play with the hammer!" A Zax standoff.
At home mom gives daughter the Barbie she bought secretly. (When? She was with us the whole time.) Daughter, "Ooookaaaay."
Afternoon, mom has gone out with a friend, doubtless to commiserate over her wayward daughter. I find daughter out on back deck. I go out there and she has torn off the dress,👗, one leg and both arms. They are on the ground 15 feet below. Gleefully she tears off the head, then the last leg. She grins at me and announces SHE is going to put her new bookcase together. Her expression says she knows she needs help.
Mom is horrified. Again. But more so because she sees her daughter, gasp, holding a tool! "You can't be like a boy!"
The serial Barbie disassembler on another occasion threw a nerf ball half-way across the room and broke a curtain rod. She looked scared. Mom was horrified, again. I was dumbfounded. I got the nerf ball and checked it. Squishing it thoroughly revealed no added weight inside. I stared at her, then exclaimed, "Wow! What an arm!" To mom, "Baseball. She should play baseball."
Mom was, I think, terrified she would not have grandchildren. Not something I need to explain to a Weiss. I told mom not to worry. That marriage did not last.
Daughter did aeronautics degree. These days my former stepdaughter is married, 3 kids, and still has her rakish sense of humor, and quirky love of impropriety. Still a bit distant from mom. I still treasure her determined rending of barbie dolls. And I am happy she seems happy.
I don't need to see this movie to suspect that it would be leftist claptrap garbage, just like ALL the garbage coming out of hollywood. I already knew it would be chock full of hidden leftist propaganda that is in NO WAY appropriate for all the young girls who would be seeing it. Now, I am not a huge fan of Ben Shapiro, but I listened to his review of this movie. All I can say is this to all the mothers out there who are intending to take their daughters to this poor excuse for a movie. Listen to Shapiro's review first. Then make your decision. Do you really want to encourage the morons in hollywood who spend hundreds of millions to make garbage like this?
Hoping this doesn't do to pink what pride month did to rainbows.🤮
I have long referred to my childhood home as the "Barbie emporium." My two sisters and I breathed Barbie 24-7. Needless to say, we were giddy to learn about the upcoming movie, with plans to resurrect our hair crimpers and rent a pink convertible to drive to the theater together. Then the reviews and previews started to appear and I was crushed. Barbie went woke and I lost interest. However, this review gives me hope. Thanks for breaking down all the fun and the cringe. Maybe I'll put on my pink acrylic heels and go see the movie after all.