An involuntary acid trip doesn’t sound like much fun, but the “Barbie” movie did a brilliant job of simulating it. And it was just as cathartic.
About three seconds after the credits rolled on “Barbie,” I turned to my friend and said, “I liked it. I think. I have no idea what we just watched, but it made sense.” I laughed a lot … belly laughed. I cried. The soundtrack absolutely slapped. Hard. I don’t know why, but “Barbie” worked for me.
I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like “Barbie” before. The only way I could describe it to my parents was, “It’s like if you’d made me watch ‘Easy Rider’ and taught me about ‘the patriarchy’ as a five-year-old, and then I turned that into a game with my Barbies.”
I’m genuinely surprised people found a way to be offended by the storyline and production. It is way too ridiculous to be offensive. It takes the piss out of itself just as much as it takes the piss out of corporations, douchey fuckboys, teenage angst, woke rhetoric, men in suits who take themselves too seriously (the funniest part) and Los Angeles (Century City sucks butts and we all know it).
I can understand why men might not like it: it’s definitely a film for women, written by women with a perfect understanding of a child’s mind and that terrible evolution into womanhood. It was somewhat terrifying to see things go from shiney and happy to haunting and horrible. But it happens to all of us (usually around when we start high school or hit puberty). (RELATED: Dear Kay: I’m A Liberal Woman Who Is Deeply Attracted To Conservative Men. Why?)
One day, all girls wake up and realize they’re not thin enough, tall enough, smart enough, don’t have good enough skin. And why do we all have weird fantasies about dying?! Don’t tell me we don’t. Every female friend I’ve had has dreamed of whatever comes next because some days on this Earth just make everything feel so futile.
Greta Gerwig has created something mothers and daughters can watch together forever while Dad is outside grilling. But Dad should probably come back inside to watch America Ferrera’s rant about what it feels like to navigate womanhood and the standards that are impossible for us to reach. A good man knows how to help mitigate those issues for their wives and daughters.
The only potential downside from Gerwig’s writing is it did not make me want to be feminist. It just made me want to go get my hair and nails done in bright pink then party in the desert like I’m 22 again. Oh, and can we bring back glitter now? I think we’re ready.
Obviously all the actors were great. Big shout-out to Tom Stourton (BRO, YOU MADE IT!!) and the Welsh fam Rob Brydon.