The Q
Hoop’s Villain, Reality’s Hero
There is a line in Barbie with the narrator suggesting that Margot Robbie is the wrong character to be playing the part which is a bit of interesting meta commentary because she is actually perfect for the part of Barbie even if its really about some other woman in the real world.
I do think the movie has third act problems that hold it back from being something like movie of the year. I think there were ways to make the movie more satisfying and they kinda opted out because Ryan Gosling and his portrayal of Ken is more entertaining than anything else they could have done. There was definitely a window there to show the real Barbie working towards a functioning family unit with the daughter and dad. The dad is in about 10 seconds of the movie I think, looks a bit like maybe they were going for an older real Ken that was working on himself. Could've gone full-on Bluey showing everyone learning a lesson and feeling good. The had an out with Barbie being a stand in for any woman and rejecting Ken. The Barbie could be straight, independent, lesbian, whatever but the woman in real life playing with her was millennial/gen x married woman with 1 kid. Without connecting Ken to the real dad I think it leaves an awkwardness to the ending of the movie.
Still, if I'm ranking the four movies I saw in theaters this year then its pretty clearly: Oppenheimer > Barbie > Guardian 3 > Napoleon
I’m just saying the feminazis will never be happy until the movie ends with full on androcide