Christmas with Wales...and sigh, the Barbie Movie

[shadowkat]

Had a merry little Christmas with Wales. Did the gift giving thing, and I unwrapped presents (took them out of pretty bags) this morning. And texted family, and family texted me. Mother called. And Wales called her Dad. And Babs texted me - to wish me a Merry Christmas.

All in all a good day that started out with blue skies and ended with overcast ones.

We had the same thing we did for Thanksgiving - just without the salad. And the hens, alas, cooked unevenly, half was done, half wasn't really. But all in all - it went well.

Turns out I was wrong - Wales didn't like the Streisand version of A Star is Born, she loved the Lady Gaga version (which admittedly is the best of the bunch, and the only one in which the stars had any chemistry).

For the most part, we watched Great British Bake Off S3. But, post dinner and pumpkin pie - we watched Barbie.

Wales and I were in complete agreement regarding the Barbie Movie.

While I knew what I was getting into and tried to warn her, she really didn't. It was actually better than I expected, or not quite as bad as I thought it would be - in that it was watchable and had its funny moments or laugh out loud points. Wales...on the other hand...had gone in with high expectations.

After about twenty minutes...

Wales: Well I guess they are trying to make a point. About toxic male, etc.
Me: With a hammer, no wait a sledgehammer. It's written by Noah Bombauch and Greta Gerwig.

Closer to Fine starts up...and Barbie is singing along with it.
Me: I love this song.
Wales: yeah, okay.
Me: Damn-it they are butchering that song!
Wales: You'll get over it.

After about an hour...

Wales: Damn, this is preachy. I mean we get it. Come on.
Me: Apparently they want to make certain? And yep, American Satire tends to lack any semblance of subtlety.
Wales: I was fine, but this corporate bit is just...
Me: Unnecessary comes to mind.

After about two hours...

Wales: Okay now, I'm really annoyed and getting angry.
Me: You don't like existential Barbie with a midlife crisis?
Wales: Not when I'm going through it on a daily basis, she's just whinging.

The Kens start their singing and dance routine about Just Being a Ken.

Wales: WTF?
Me: You didn't know about this?
Wales: Uhm no.
Me: I can't believe you didn't know about this...
Wales: You did?
ME: It was kind of all over the internet...and it's gotten nominated for best song.
Wales: You are kidding, right? That's a joke?
Me: Really not.

After about two hours and ten minutes...

Wales: Is the popularity of this movie because it's a fad? Was that why?
ME: No, people loved it and found it inspiring.
Wales: Really?
Me: They even went and bought barbie dolls after.
Wales: How do you know this?
ME: They told me they did on various social media sites?
Wales: Were they young - I mean maybe kids -
Me: No all ages.
Wales: This makes no sense.

It's worth mentioning that Wales desperately wanted to see the film, and is a feminist, and has volunteered for the Women's Rights Advocacy Group. But she never owned Barbies, her sister did, she did not.

After about two hours and twenty minutes...

Wales: So is this going to end at any point?
ME: I know, it does appear to be seemingly endless. Maybe this is it?

Barbie is going on a walk with her creator.

Me: apparently not, seems Ken needs validation first.
Wales: Ugh.
Me: Oh look Kenough - seems to be a play on Kenu Reeves, but I may be wrong on that. There's a lot of insider jokes in this.

Wales: It's finally over.
Me: Yep. Kind of dumb, but not quite as bad as expected. I did laugh in places. I'd say it's on par with Quiz Lady.
Wales: Yeah, I'd agree. We're not doing great with picking flicks to watch are we?
Me: No. But at least we agree on them, there's that.



Mattel made a lot of money off of that movie by the way. I didn't pay anything for it - since I was a subscriber to MAX long before this.

It does have some funny or biting inside joke one-liners in it.

Such as ...

Barbie: I'm ugly now, and no longer stereotypically beautiful.
Narrator: In a side note to the filmmakers? You probably should have considered casting someone other than Margot Robbie to make that particular point.

Another?

Brainwashed Barbie who snaps out of it: Oh, I no longer find myself needless obsessed with the Zack Snyder Justice League Extended Cut.

I still find that one funny. But it was completely lost on Wales. I caught it, it went over her head.

Also, it does a very good job of poking fun at the toxic male and patriarchy. But it kind of goes too far? That is the problem with American Satire - it kind of goes one or two steps too far, and subtlety gets thrown out the window. American filmmakers don't appear to trust their audiences enough to get the message. They really didn't want any room for doubt.

Overall? I'd give it maybe two and a half stars? It's worth watching on streaming for a laugh. I don't see it changing the world - or changing any minds. Far too preachy for that.

****

In other news, I also started watching the live action adaptation of One Piece on Netflix, which has been heavily rec'd online. Much better than expected and kind of fun. Also the live-action looks better than the anime. It's a live action adaptation of the magna and long running anime (the anime is in its 20th season).

It's actually good. Which surprised me.

Comments

[threemeninaboat]

Eric and I both thought the part in Barbie where they sing Matchbox 20's Push was the funniest thing we saw all year. But we have the same sense of humor.

The anime One Piece is awful. I did like the live action but I only got 3 episodes in before grad school took back over.

[shadowkat]

It probably would help if I had a clue what Matchbox 20's Push referenced or is? That song was lost on both of us. (We are in our fifties, so it may be too young for us?) I looked it up - oh dear god, that's an actual song? We thought the writers made it up. It's truly awful and kind of offensive - I did not know that horrid thing actually existed.

Now that I know that's based on an actual song - it is hilarious. They poke fun at it and kind of satirize it. That's the humor in the film - there's a lot of inside pop culture jokes threaded in there - that if you don't know them or the reference? It really doesn't work at all and flies over your head. Example - the Zack Snyder Reference.

I tried the anime One Piece - and I'd agree, it is awful. The anime is not good, and it is poorly set up. Gave me a headache. On the 3rd episode of the live action version - which is much better.

[threemeninaboat]

Naaaa. Eric is 54, John is 54, they know Push, it was a 90's thing, it was very popular.

Roz is 34 and knew Push but did not think it was funny.

[shadowkat]

So, it's more whether you know Push, less an age thing, and if you find parodies of it funny.

I never heard of the song until this film.

[yourlibrarian]

I know a lot of people quite liked the Cowboy Bebop adaptation as well. (I've never seen either of the originals)

[shadowkat]

Anime can be harder to watch - partly because it's usually dubbed or in Japanese, and it's really hard to watch anime in another language, there's too much going on. Of the two - Cowboy Bepob is the better animated, it's actually pretty good, the other..eh not so far.

[shadowkat]

Having tried both the live adaptation of Cowboy Bepob and One Piece - it's One Piece by the mile. Much better adaptation.

[mefisto]

I didn't have much desire to watch Barbie before I read this and I have less now. However, I watched Oppenheimer today and it's excellent.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I'd skip Barbie. It really only works for people who love broad parody, musical parody, broad (and I do mean broad hit you over the head with it) satire. And America's (unrecognizable from Ugly Betty) role seems to be to just make a lot of long-winded feminist speeches, which yes, yay, but after about the fifth one, it got tired.

Glad you enjoyed Oppenheimer. It was by far the best film I've seen in a really long time. Which is insane, considering I'm not a fan of bio-pics, but it kind of subverts the biopic and turns it inside out. Also it plays with film narrative and style in an innovative way.