Barbie (2023)

[A Boy Named Seo]

A friend of ours RENTED OUT AN ENTIRE THEATRE next week to see this movie and he we all have to dress in theme. None of that is made up. There is a hype around this film that feels positively Swiftie.

Have you seen it? Will you see it?

[A Boy Named Seo]

sorry, those emojis that don't show up are pink hearts. pound sign fail #

edit: red hearts it is

[Frayed Knot]

Have you seen it? Will you see it?

No and no

[kcmets]

Spoiler alert:

GI Joe with life-like hair and kung-fu grip shows up at the 3/4 mark and
puts the beat down on Ken and rides into the sunset with Barbie. Whether
they live happily ever after is rumored already to be revealed in a sequel.

[whippoorwill]

A friend of ours RENTED OUT AN ENTIRE THEATRE next week to see this movie and he we all have to dress in theme. None of that is made up. There is a hype around this film that feels positively Swiftie.

Have you seen it? Will you see it?

Sounds like fun! 🩷🩷🩷
Do you have some pink clothes?

[A Boy Named Seo]

I have a couple of pink soccer jerseys. I think I can pull something off but will not be going full Euro soccer player and dying my hair blonde.

[whippoorwill]

Lol my niece’s son did that. Has pink goalie-wear tooo

[A Boy Named Seo]

Lol my niece’s son did that. Has pink goalie-wear tooo

I love it. I absolutely could not pull it off.

[Edgy MD]

When irony becomes substance and substance becomes irony and people are trying to get with the program but aren't sure whether they're being sincere or camping it up ... kind of makes this feel like 2023's most 1990s movie.

[whippoorwill]

Lol my niece’s son did that. Has pink goalie-wear tooo

I love it. I absolutely could not pull it off.

Well he’s about 17
You can do anything when you’re that young

[Frayed Knot]

I have a pink t-shirt from a long ago bike ride I did. Can, and occasionally still do, wear it around.

I pretty sure the real Ken (by that I mean the real fake Ken) was neither blond nor wore pink.

It is a '90s movie being made in 2023 in that the '90s were the prime era for making moves based on baby boomer nostalgia topics, mainly on TV shows from bb's youth.
The problem now is that even the youngest boomers are about to hit 60 as the oldest creep up on 80. Not exactly your prime theater-going audience and probably less likely now than they were 30-ish years ago to wallow in rewatching new adaptations of every sit-com, cartoon, or toy they ever watched/owned.

[smg58]

I don't think I've ever seen a trailer that made a movie look less watchable.

[A Boy Named Seo]

I have a pink t-shirt from a long ago bike ride I did. Can, and occasionally still do, wear it around.

I pretty sure the real Ken (by that I mean the real fake Ken) was neither blond nor wore pink.

It is a '90s movie being made in 2023 in that the '90s were the prime era for making moves based on baby boomer nostalgia topics, mainly on TV shows from bb's youth.
The problem now is that even the youngest boomers are about to hit 60 as the oldest creep up on 80. Not exactly your prime theater-going audience and probably less likely now than they were 30-ish years ago to wallow in rewatching new adaptations of every sit-com, cartoon, or toy they ever watched/owned.

The real "real" Ken (I learned only today) went through numerous iterations including a 70s version that had leisure suite and detachable sideburns (!!!) but the first (or early '61 Ken) had blond felt (!!!!!) hair, red swim trunks and this pink over jacket thing that he wore without an undershirt because fuckin' A Ken.



Judging by the director, stars and especially the soundtrack, I think baby boomers are the demo they're least trying to court. The friend who rented the theatre is in her 30s but would be a Barbie girl in any era. It's just very much her shit. But having not seen it, I think they're courting millennials and definitely late gen alphas who probably don't play with dolls but watch a million tiktok videos on destroying the patriarchy. I'm sure they're going to try to sell a zillion dollars worth of merch and make sequels if this one makes as much as it's gonna make.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Spoiler alert:

GI Joe with life-like hair and kung-fu grip shows up at the 3/4 mark and
puts the beat down on Ken and rides into the sunset with Barbie. Whether
they live happily ever after is rumored already to be revealed in a sequel.

In that same piece I read today that I mentioned to FK, there was a talking Barbie and a talking GI Joe on the market at the same. Some lil wise guys switched the voice boxes so GI Joe was the one saying "Math is hard" and Barbie was yelling "Eat lead, Cobra!" lololol

[whippoorwill]

Barbie and I are the same age…64…which mean we are relative to the same iconic song the Beatles sang that evoked old age.

I never had a Ken doll (ew!) I did have a talking Barbie though and one with flexible joints and a twisty waist! The flexible joints made a highly satisfying crunching noise.

My daughter had a couple of plastic-haired Kens (80s era) and one with hilariously wild rooted nylon hair

Today I asked my granddaughter (age 10) if she saw theBarbie movie and she said ‘huh? And NO!!

Kinda surprised and disappointed

[Frayed Knot]

The good news is that if I do decide to check out BARBIE so as to not be the only one without an opinion of it come Monday morning, my local has 27 showings of it running tomorrow. First airing commences at 9 AM with the final one at 10:50 PM

I mean, really, there's just no excuse not to.

[whippoorwill]

Not when you’ve so many viewing options.

[Fman99]

ABNS, I hope your costume included/includes a plastic codpiece where your genitals would otherwise presumably be located.

[A Boy Named Seo]

ABNS, I hope your costume included/includes a plastic codpiece where your genitals would otherwise presumably be located.

It's the same one David Bowie wore in Labrynth.

[MFS62]

Does a white sport coat and a pink carnation count as Barbie-ish?

Later

[A Boy Named Seo]

Does a white sport coat and a pink carnation count as Barbie-ish?

Later

As long as you have no shirt on underneath

[A Boy Named Seo]

First, I don't think I can ever go to a theatre again where every patron is not someone I know or a friend of someone I know. Highly underrated experience.

(no spoilers below, but some plot stuff is mentioned)



There was a self-awareness in the writing that was clever but also had to be there to pull this movie off. Some people historically loved the Barbie dolls, saying they showed little girls that a woman having all these big careers was a possibility. Others hated the line, saying Barbie set impossible beauty standards for young girls and set feminism back decades instead of pushing it forward. Both these concepts were embraced by the writers which allowed them to build a Barbie-land run by empowered, representative women (with a Black president and all female supreme court) and where the men (the Kens) were happy accessories, with the Margot Robbie-played Barbie character thinking that sexism ended when the Barbie doll was created. It's ridiculous and pretty funny at the same time, and when Ken realizes in the "real world" that men are more powerful than women, he tries to build a Barbie-land patriarchy which is also ridiculous and funny. That apparently angered some people.

Ted Cruz called the movie communist propaganda, FOX ran a piece calling it "anti-man" and - everyone please sit down for this - apparently one of the Barbie's was played by a trans actor. Yes, friends, Barbie is woke. *gasp*

But the movie pokes at gender norms and the patriarchy as much as it pokes at Barbie and Ken and whole concept of the doll line. It makes a point but makes fun of itself in the process.

The visuals in Barbie-land were really cool and the music (Lizzo, especially) was perfect for this movie. I do think there could easily be 10 more Barbie movies and they'd probably all make a shit-load of money. I'm currently at 3 or 3.5 pink hearts.

TL;DR - Barbie is fun but it's not Citizen Kane or anything. Rent out a theatre, put on some pink and go watch it with friends and only friends.

[MFS62]

It was on HBO last night.
I watched the first 15 or so minutes and turned it off.
My wife made it to 20 minutes, and our kids had Barbie Dolls.
Maybe I'll try it again, but come in about mid way so I don't have to watch the first 15 minutes again.
They were trying to show that all women are equal no matter what they choose to do, but it was annoying.
Later

[kcmets]

I DVR'd it the other night and watched this evening with KB.

It was pretty bad. Is one supposed to take mescaline before
viewing (I didn't see the opening credits)?

KB didn't like it either.

[Lefty Specialist]

Watched it the other night with Mrs Lefty and Lefty Jr.

We were....underwhelmed. I don't know if that's a product of the hype or not, but we're glad we didn't pay to see it in the theater.