Soooo, over the weekend, I watched BARBIE, because it finally popped up free on Max or something.
It is...fine. Good, even. Maybe even darned good.
They really hammer the point of the movie a LOT (Barbie has a complicated legacy and the patriarchy is bad) but do it in a charming and self-aware enough way that it doesn't elicit the eye-roll that most movies that overdo it with a message will get.
The whole cast is good...and some of the casting was brilliant, like casting Emma Mackey, who is a virtual Robbie look-alike as another Barbie. (There were 3 actors total from Sex Education...Greta Gerwig must have fucking loved that show or something).
The only thing is, like, it was fine and a lot of fun and all, but I don't really see the "BEST MOVIE EVER WOO!" shit. I kind of feel like that comes from people who are so basic that they never really thought about any of the themes dealt with in this movie...like guys who never realized that being a woman is hard, or women who never really thought about Barbie's whole thing.
I'd give it like a 7 out of 10.
Then on a different night I watched 1965's Our Man Flint. Now THERE is a fucking movie
Strangely enough, it deals with some of the same themes as Barbie, namely man's unapologetic exploitation of women via institutionalized patriarchal thinking and ideation, but just lets you figure it out yourself.
It is also stylish, fun, has a healthy undercurrent of absurdism and amazing soundtrack work courtesy of the great Jerry Goldsmith.
I give it, liiiike, an 8/10. Maybe a 9 because I just sort of love it, even though I know it probably is not worthy.