Unpopular opinion: "Barbie" the movie is garbage

It was shit

It didn’t hold up on rewatch. The marketing was more enjoyable than the actual movie.

I told you so.

Agreed OP.

I'm starting to understand how Crash won Best Picture.

Will be interesting to see everyone's evaluation of this movie 30 years from now when we are far removed from the cultural hype.

Boys in the Boat should be nominated for an Oscar, and not this dog shit Barbie movie.

I tried to re-watch Barbie for the first time since seeing it in the theater this past summer, and I had give up after 50 or so minutes. I don’t know why, but the things I initially found charming and witty had evolved into heavy-handed (and unsuccessful attempts) to be funny. I was also taken aback by how off-putting I found Gloria (America Ferrera) and her cunty daughter.

I will admit that I found the production design, costumes, and Ryan Goslings performance as wonderful as I did the first time around. Hell, even the inexplicably bad Will Ferrell appearances managed to taste better reheated. But the rest of it was just…bad.

Come Oscar time, I’m predicting 3-4 wins (Original Screenplay, Best Song, Production Design, and possibly Best Supporting Actor). I believe they will all be deserving, but it turns out the magic of the film is owed solely to an effective PR campaign.

Dreadful movie. Feminism for millennials.

I turned it off after seeing the first 5 min on an airplane. I then watched Crazy Rich Asians which was stupid but entertaining.

It just went on and on and got increasingly less funny. It started off funny though. Margo, Ryan and Kate were good. I like America so I liked her character, but i didn’t even watch it to the end.

They couldn’t really go hard because they inexplicably decided to try to keep Mattel happy.

The first half of the film does a good job establishing Barbie Land and creating a dilemma. But the second half feels like an afterthought and is filled with boring Feminism 101 lectures.

I didn't dislike it, but it's far from perfect.

It was utter shit. Am glad I was drunk when I watched it. Greta Gerwig is the epitome of overrated.

I haven't seen it, but judging by the reviews given here it sounds awful. Shrill and America Ferrara are not a good combination.

Big waste of time, I hated everything about it.

OP, if Pauline Kael were alive, I'm betting she'd agree.

The public have an insatiable appetite for shit.

That fat Barbie (Lawyer Barbie?) was difficult to look at. My eye was drawn to her in every one of the scenes she shared with the other Barbie's, and not in a good way. Trans Barbie (Dr. Barbie) wasn’t as bad as I thought she’d be.

It will be ridiculous to hear "Barbie" being read off as one of the nominees at the Oscars. How far we've fallen.

[quote] They did nothing with Allan and the other Kens, nor Skipper—all had great potential for comedy.

What about PJ?

Loved it can’t wait to watch it a third time. Loved the nods to French films and Powell and Pressburger. It’s also just fun to have on in the background while working or cleaning.

There are many threads on your subject, OP. Lots of DLers hated it so, not that unpopular an opinion here. It’s like my grandma used to say-“Not everything is for you”. Learned that lesson when I was 5.

Yes, the college "introduction to film" allusions were abundant. I particularly hated Barbie telling an elderly woman she was beautiful. Gerwig and Robbie would kill themselves if they woke up with a quarter of those wrinkles. Don't patronize older women.

This is the epitome of the white feminism film where the biggest problem is being caught between the contradiction of being thin but not too thin and being attractive but not too attractive. This was like attending a Variety "Women in Film" lunch with production numbers.

Was it at least camp 🏕️?

I haven't seen the movie but some of the embarrassing moments like that described in R21 make me want to see how much of a train wreck this really is. I remember watching "Crash" for the first time with a friend and, as bad as it was, we had so much fun watching the movie and just tearing it apart. I can see "Barbie" being a film that will not age well.

and Kate McKinnon as "Weird Barbie." What is that all about?

They should have had John Waters direct. It wouldn’t have made 1/2 the money but people would be talking about it 100 yrs from now.

I couldn't get through ten minutes of that dreck.

This movie wasn't very good but it's hard not to think that you bitches complaining about it hate women and young people.

R5 prefers formulaic sports movies while pretending to have good taste

R18, guess you prefer the days when crap like The Greatest Show on Earth would win Best Picture

OP just wanted to complain about girl power and America Ferrera

Conservatives like Ben Shapiro and Ted Cruz hate this movie because it has a feminist message

Are you Ted Cruz, OP?

It was overrated. Agreed.

I was in and out but when they had to voice over explain that Margot Robbie was not the person to cast to get a certain point about looks across - I dropped out. You can’t show us one thing and because you can’t think of how to get around a glaring mistake then TELL us what to think.

People say it’s about feminism. But the Barbies in their matriarchal society treated men like shit. It seemed to say that equality isn’t possible either way. And with no real answer the best it could come up with is that we just need to be nicer to each other - blech…

Agree OP. For a movie touted as one with a strong feminist message, it sure revolved a LOT around Ken, Ken's feelings, Ken's journey of self-discovery, Ken's moments of epiphany, Ken's actions in response to his self-discovery, and eventually Barbie apologizing for taking Ken for granted. My unpopular opinion is that Ryan Gosling was not good as Ken. He was wooden and over-acted like a childrens' theater performer. What a bait-and-switch of a movie.

There's nothing wrong with a film having a feminist message, but sometimes it can come off as heavy-handed and patronizing as it does in this movie.

There will probably be many sequels to "Barbie" so I imagine they'll have more stories to tell. Maybe the next film should be called "Ken."

R25 Barbie’s side hustle: rosary jobs

Remember Dawn dolls? They were like petite versions of Barbie.

No Hard Feelings was funnier than Barbie.

"Barbie" was too obvious in its attempt to cater to diversity.

R34 - I don't think the movie had a strong feminist message. It set up a sort of matriarch-type of world and what would have been a feminist message was quickly subverted into a Ken's Journey of Self-Discovery movie regarding his masculine identity issues. People were bamboozled into thinking this was a feminist movie, including all those RW and Conservative nutjob people who were outraged at how anti-men it was. Anti-men? It propped Ken up like the sympathetic hero throughout!

But it didn’t even cater to diversity effectively. Issa Rae had like 5 lines.

The only genuine laughs I experienced is when the theme song playing on the morning changed to match Barbie’s descent into depression. The singer did a great job.

[quote]and Kate McKinnon as "Weird Barbie." What is that all about?

R24, did you see the movie?

Agreed OP. I hated it.

R43 No

R32 It did feel ridiculous watching the conventionally beautiful blonde Margot Robbie complain about not feeling beautiful enough. That’s how I interpreted the line. But it’s like the movie wants to have its cake and eat it too. There’s also a line about Barbie being a white savior but it’s not like the nonwhite Barbie’s are given anything significant to do in the movie.

2023 was the year of massive PR campaigns to sell overhyped crap, like Barbie and Taylor Swift. I've never seen such media hysteria for basic shit before.

I also hated it OP as well as Gosling. I had forgotten that Skipper was even a character until I read your post. The only moment I liked was when the Will Ferrell was grossed out by Pregnant Barbie.

Satire. Loved it, including the open. Hilarious.

R24, "Weird Barbie" is a pretty good character, though Kate McKinnon is annoying. There are countless different Barbies in Barbieland, according to the dolls manufactured in the real world, like Malibu Barbie, President Barbie, etc. The protagonist of the movie is so-called Stereotypical Barbie, which I guess is the basic original model.

Weird Barbie lives on the outskirts and serves as kind of a sage who is consulted when the real world impinges on Barbieland and things go wrong. She is weird because she was played with too hard; she's covered in weird makeup and has her hair chopped up, thanks to the little-girl counterpart in the real world who owned her. She has other defects, too. Since she's not perfect, she has the ability to understand both worlds and offer advice.

I know, it sounds nonsensical and is, but this is to explain "Weird Barbie."

R32, they didn't really treat the Kens like shit; they just didn't cater to them in any way. It's not like they enslaved them; they just coexisted with them but didn't care much about them. It's just an acknowledgment that nobody really likes Ken except as a reflection of Barbie. I thought it was somewhat interesting to see that play out. I didn't like the movie very much, though.

It will be ridiculous to hear "Barbie" being read off as one of the nominees at the Oscars. How far we've fallen.

I totally agree.

The Academy was paid off by Warner Brothers, to include this pile of dog crap as an Oscar contender.

There should be an investigation and a "follow the money" trail. It'll prove that there was a ton of money being thrown at the Academy to help promote this donkey vomit of a movie.

[quote] 2023 was the year of massive PR campaigns to sell overhyped crap, like Barbie and Taylor Swift. I've never seen such media hysteria for basic shit before.

You nailed it, R47. Right on the money.

Barbie and Taylor Swift are both ABSOLUTE GARBAGE for brain dead people.

r47 I'd like to know the crossover percentage of people who paid to watch Barbie and also attended Taylor Swift concerts. Because I agree that both are clearly and deeply mediocre.

I enjoyed how bizarre it was.

I want a Ken stand-alone movie. Fuck Barbie.

[Quote] Will be interesting to see everyone's evaluation of this movie 30 years from now when we are far removed from the cultural hype.

It won't take 30 years; no more than 3 if even that long.

R2 wins the thread. The marketing was fun. The moms, dads, kids wearing pink and going to the movie was most of the fun. The rewatch was cringe almost despite fabulous production values.

I completely agree that Barbie as a character was underwritten. It was like the movie tried everything in its power to NOT make this a movie about Barbie. They added dozens of extra "Barbies" and a variety of Kens and other side characters to take the focus off of Barbie being the main character. She was supposed to be "Stereotypical Barbie", but this wan't really explained or explored. Why was she "stereotypical" and did she even have a backstory? The whole thing was too focused on having a message of some sort and having pretty sets and costumes, while neglecting to actually have a story with some kind of substance or character development.

It was a film written for women, directed at little girls and young women with the message of female empowerment. DLers are analyzing it as if it were Sondheim or Kafka.

My husband mixes a pitcher Crystal Light Peach Tea twice as strong as it should be, I always need to halve it with water.

This is what Barbie the movie was like.

It was a film written for young white feminists, a not particularly aggrieved group. Its only interest in older women was calling them beautiful. The film was shoved down our throats. It was immune from criticism when it came out because then you were siding with the Matt Gaetzes and Ben Shapiros of the world.

There are no Oscar-worthy movies that feature Will Ferrell. He stinks up everything he touches.

They could have done more with the “Barbie has a perfect life, but finds it somewhat empty because she’s never faced any challenges” theme. But considering the movie was aimed at millennial hausfrauen, that theme might not have gone down too well.