UKC

Barbie. A really great movie, wonderfully crafted, terrific script, very intelligent, very funny, and while gently satirical, never cynical. Massively entertaining. Margot Robbie really good in the title role. I want to see it a second time now (a lady I was talking to on the way out said it was her second time).

Another point: at 114 minutes it feels just right - in this modern era in which so many films are definitely too long.

My 10-year old daughter went to see it yesterday and came out quite disappointed.

The Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice cover of Barbie Girl is, however, one of the worse things I've heard on the car radio, if we set the issue of Jeremy Vine to one side.

I thought the first half was entertaining and kept me engaged, the second half too slow and dull. The ending took forever, as is seemingly now common. Final scene was pure gold though!  We went in a big group, aged from 7 upwards. You could see the film losing all ages of the audience in our group by the final quarter.

Gordon

That review has made my wife even more determined to see it, especially as a member of the family was behind the camera.  They were at a cast and crew preview and reckoned that all present were a lot more interested in their own contributions rather that the film as a whole.

At least it's not 3 hours long.

John

I’m not sure it’s really a kids’ movie. Teenagers for sure, but 10 seemed to me a bit young to really get a lot of it. Like Gordon, I thought it was great. 

It’s absolutely not a kid’s movie. I think they would understand very little of it indeed, because the adult perspective is at least as important as the child’s and there’s a very sophisticated level of irony.

Kudos for rating this film! I haven't seen it but Irvine Welsh (none the less) rated it as well on X / Twitter. Praise indeed.

It’s quite a rare thing for me: a straight 5-star movie, because it works so well at all levels. Cinematically, it’s as good as anything you’ll see anywhere. (By cinematic I’m not referring simply to the cinematography, which is first rate, but to the movie as a whole as a work of art.)

Incidentally, as a comparison of ratings of recent movies I’ve seen, the last movie I saw before Barbie was Asterorid City. That was 2-stars for me, because - although it ‘looked’ very good - the script was so weak, resulting in an awful lot of wasted technical talent.

Honestly it’s not really aimed at kids, it’s aimed at nostalgic millennials 

I would have said nostalgic Gen Xers but maybe that's just me. I just checked - Gerwig is 40, so I think that puts her right on the Gen X - Millennial border. Perhaps she can claim both identities! 

What do you think of the criticism that it's still a white lady feminist film?

I greatly enjoyed it too - didn't even realize it was her and him and him off Sex Education until my partner pointed it out. Their American accents must have convinced me! Did anyone else think that the husband of America Ferrara's character (the slightly random bloke trying Spanish in the car at the end ) was really odd? He seemed to have nothing to do and I don't think we even heard his name. Then I twigged of course - that's exactly how Gerwig wanted it to be. Genius!

We are going to see it on Tuesday as part two of our Barbenheimer double bill. I really enjoyed the first half and am very much looking forward to the second.

My brown lady feminist partner did not voice any major concerns tho she was a bit miffed that there were no South Asian Barbies. Okay there was one but blink and you miss her. She said the thing about Barbie (the doll) was that of course she was white and obviously she’d have liked more representation as a kid, so it was fitting that the film replicated that. 

Edit (I specifically asked): yes this was definitely a thing. 

You do know her character’s husband is America Ferrera’s real life husband?

I didn't. Is the daughter character her actual daughter too? After watching all of the seasons of Superstore with my kids, I have a bit of a soft-spot for Ferrera, but I'm not that much of a fanboy to know who she is married too (the lucky man!).   I think Superstore is one of the best and most subversive US family comedies I've seen and Amy, Ferrera's character is the moral and political heart!

No the daughter is just a child actor. Never heard of Superstore, will check it out. 

Superstore is in some ways quite "mainstream" as US comedies go, no swearing so it's kid friendly. But unlike Modern Family, it's set in the Mid West, and in a big box store - presumably we're all meant to think Walmart - so the people are poor-ish, or at least not witty coastal elites. Sort of like Parks and Rec but with more suggestions of the alienating effects of late-capitalism, and the desperate human struggle to build relationships in face of an economic structure that atomises society. Or something like that. :⁠-⁠)

Oppenbarbie?

As its the summer holidays and I have a bit more time I did some quick googling on this and found this article https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a44640442/who-is... which not only tells us a bit about him, but has a nice picture of both of them on a SAG=AFTRA picket line a couple of weeks back out on strike. I didn't know what his character said in Spanish in that final scene, but now know the whole context and history "Sí se puede" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%AD_se_puede As someone who has been on a picket line a number of times through this spring, this has deepened my appreciation for Barbie yet further.   And Sí se puede to my union-sisters and -brothers! ...if that's not political appropriation.

On the strength of your review I went to see it this afternoon. Great film - loved it!

It started well with that 2001 Space Odyssey pastiche and the finish definitely had a moist eye.

Another packed cinema so I'm not surprised it's setting records in the revenue department. 

Glad you liked it. Yes, you can imagine how the 2001 pastiche had a particular resonance for me….   Barbie’s so good I’m going to see it again on Thursday.

If you get a chance to see Disney/Pixar's Elemental, which has been disproportionately pushed aside by the multiple juggernauts of Barbie, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning and Oppenheimer, please do so. It's a beautiful film with a beautiful message. 

Totally agree.  The reviews were fairly middling but took the kids over summer and it was excellent - in classic Pixar style there was at least one moment where if you don’t have tears in your eyes I’m not sure you have a soul.

I went to see it yesterday and found myself looking at my watch in a way that I just hadn't done once during the three hours of Oppenheimer. It may be clever and witty and all sorts of things but I just didn't care enough about any of it. Maybe one day I will watch it again and have a different experience.

I haven't seen it.

My 14 year old daughter has. She didn't enjoy it.

Just got out of the cinema and I loved it! Can't remember the last time I laughed so much at a film, maybe not since Zoolander 20 years ago. The final scene had me in bits for several minutes before I could move again! As well as being funny I thought it was clever, original and well-acted, and the aesthetics were great. Plus, as the child owner of a 'weird Barbie' (facial tattoos, shorn hair and handsewn clothes made from scraps of fabric) and a sassy teen who rejected Barbie's example of feminine perfection, it struck a lot of chords with me. But mostly it was just so much fun that I'd happily watch it over and over (plus Margot and Ryan Gosling are both incredibly hot!).

Have you seen Game Night (it's on iPlayer at the moment)? I've seen it 11 times and still laugh at it 

Most viewings go up to ten, so I suppose eleven is one better... 

Brilliant. One of few films that actually merits watching 11 times.

Might be of interest, although I should say I haven't read it as I've not seen the film yet. It might well be complete horlicks.

"Barbie: A Strategic Analysis" by Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, KCL

https://samf.substack.com/p/my-kendom-for-a-horse 

It’s not horlicks but it’s a very dry, academic analysis of the underlying themes. It doesn’t attempt to be a critique of the film as a movie. I’ll be seeing it again, so maybe Freedman’s analysis will be more helpful second time round.

It's hard to imagine that the beautifully innocent Barbie is related (Great-Granddaughter?) to the notorious Nazi war criminal whose atrocities were so dreadful that he came to be known as the "Butcher of Lyon". 

"With more alias' than Klaus Barbie

Master Butcher of Leigh on Sea

Just about to take the stage

The one and only - hold the front page"

Name that tune...

That's a blast from the past - Carter USM.
I used to climb with someone whose surname was Carter and for a brief period he was known as 'Carter the Unstoppable Climbing Machine'.
(It was brief because he was generally a rubbish climber that had a few weeks of OK'ish climbing before reverting back to being rubbish).

Saw Barbie today to join the Barbiheimer club. Slightly too long and sagged a little in the middle. However well worthwhile, teriffic production values, great casting, very funny in places. Hope to see Oppenheimer again with subtitles. 

Agreed. Took my 5 year old to see this film last week. Really enjoyed it, as did he. 

Really? I watched it the other night and I'd say it was a bit above average Hollywood movie. I wouldn't watch it again.

Fair enough. I think it just seemed to target my exact/specific humour. Friends I've recommended it to, all loved it,  but that's a self-selecting audience of course. I love how utterly silly and nonsensical it all is, but the pace and the performances give it such momentum that you barely stop to think "hang on a moment, how....but...no...."