Barbie

[Matt2112]

(First off, apologies for the long review).

Finally got round to seeing this at the local Vue, now that all the "culture war" hullabaloo that surrounded its release has subsided.

This film has of course been effusively lauded as an astute, nerve-striking satire of "patriarchy" by the "progressive left" and viciously criticised as nakedly misandrist by the "anti-woke", as it rather unsurprisingly (and tediously) became subject of a loud, raging tennis match of discourse between the loud extremes of both camps.

So I was determined to go into this with a clean slate, but have to say that it didn't take long at all before it was clear things tended toward the latter accusation. 

However, that wasn't my biggest "takeaway" from Barbie - which is a film that really does demand you have a "takeaway" from it, albeit for me it wasn't the one it intended.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions and I think that's very appropriate for this film; it is so consumed with delivering a biting satirical message, that it forgets it is often actually stating the bleedin' obvious, and hence is way behind the curve of where the discourse on female empowerment actually is. So this film ends up patronising everyone, no matter where they stand politically - it's almost 2 hours of the old bigotry of low expectations.

Even worse, it's all threaded through with an air of conceited self-congratulation, and worse still, writer/director Greta Gerwig even fancies her writing of the frequent monologues as tear-jerkingly profound, when in fact they're cringeworthily clunky.

Gerwig presents a crass false dichotomy of women and men being in some kind of inevitable, interminable conflict simply because of the way they're made and, in the end, they might be able to make compromises and tolerate each other, but they don't need each other.  Well, here I'm reminded of Konstantin Kisin's excellent review on YouTube, where he comprehensively dismantles this point.

While the film is a bit of a clanger, then, it's not a stinker: it's partially redeemed by very impressive technical accomplishments in production design, costume design, hair and make-up etc. - I strongly suspect Oscar nominations are forthcoming.  There are a couple of neat, deftly executed "meta" gags.   And Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are of course perfectly cast and carry the film expertly.

The problem is really that it's, perhaps ironically, somewhat behind the times.

Rating: **

[dom]

I think I already commented in the what are you watching thread.

I found the message the film was trying to convey as confused and inconsistent. In trying to keep everyone happy, it failed miserably.

I also thought the ending very feeble, not too mention that it went on for far too long.

Not a fan to be honest and wish we'd gone for Oppenheimer instead. Hopefully will get to see that soon