Barbie

At this point, is there anything more to be said about either part of Barbenheimer? Probably not, but that hasn't stopped people from continuing to weigh in on both films. 

Just yesterday, Bill Maher was trending on I'm-not-calling-it-X-Twitter (yet again) for saying how much he disliked the film for being both preachy and presenting a militant feminist view of the world that doesn't actually exist anymore. Whatever. Bill is just being Bill, as usual. He manages to be both right and completely misses the point at the same time. 

Barbie does indeed show a greatly exaggerated view of the world that represents a male-female power dynamic that is at least 10, if not 30 years old. It's also true that Gerwig is not afraid to hit us over the head with its anti-patriarchy messaging. 

But what Bill misses - and what dumbasses like Ben Shapiro, who went on to have an embarrassing 45-minute hissy fit about a freakin' Barbie movie, certainly miss - is that a) it's a satire, which by nature means that its view of the world is greatly exaggerated and b) while it certainly explores feminism (and how could it not considering Barbie's complicated past), its message is actually much more universal and much more elemental: don't let others define who you are and who you want to be.

Scandalous I know.

But even ignoring its messaging, which, as I say, isn't so much about hating men or being "woke" as it is about being empowered enough to decide who you really are, it's hard to understand getting angry about a film like Barbie. It's such a joyously bonkers, rip-roaringly hilarious and yes very pinkly coloured piece of pure unbridled entertainment. 

The cast are excellent, with Ryan Gosling threatening to steal the show as (Beach) Ken, and Margot Robbie absolutely holding the whole thing together. The set and costume design are brilliant. It's impeccably directed by Greta Gerwig. It has great songs. But what surprises most about the film is how gleefully nuts it is and how very, very funny it is - I struggle to think of a comedy film that has made me laugh this hard in years. 

It's probably not for very young kids, though. Not so much because it's inappropriate but because of how meta and mature its humour is. It was, after all, written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach - not two people you think of as being particularly... mainstream. Certainly, Baumbach's films can be really, really hard work, which instantly puts this right at the top of his filmography as far as I'm concerned.

It's a really great movie, in short. Though you probably don't need me to tell you that. Anything that pisses off Ben Shapiro and other right-wing cry-babies this much has to be doing something right!

9/10