They worked trucks in too. 
She’s a fan of both; though she hasn’t watched a lot of Stranger Things, she’s aware of it and likes the concept.
Saw it yesterday. One word: SQUEEEEEEE! Surprised and pleased at the way the plot played out, and can’t wait to own it on home video so I can be sure I get all the easter eggs. I think my favorite thing was Alan: the way he was written/played, and the fact that he was included at all. “I’m Ken’s buddy! All his clothes fit me!” Yep: if you even owned Alan, you sure didn’t have his outfits; you just put Ken’s stuff on him. And now I find that’s what it says on his box: “He’s Ken’s buddy…”
[ramble]It comes up a lot in comedy and Barbie-inspired fiction: “And Ken had the operation and is now Kendra, and he and Barbie are closer than ever, awww.” Eh, it’s plausible, but it’s equally likely that Ken is like Don Draper, either having an affair with Midge, or just tomcatting around and justifying it by claiming Barbie is married to her work. Especially if he’s really an airline pilot by profession! Anyway, Alan; I can see him coming out, not to become Alanna, but still free to hang out with Earring Magic Ken and Sugar Daddy Ken. Because the real Ken was his crush for many years, and the real reason he hooked up with Midge, because she was Barbie’s friend and that put him in proximity with Ken.[/ramble]
Anyway, yeah, the movie. Very likely, Gerwig will be seen as one of the defining directors of the 2010s-20s.
We saw it last night, a Tuesday as well, and the theater was mostly full. About three-fourths were female, mostly younger, with about half dressed for the movie: pink, high heels, and even one vintage round Barbie purse. It was a hoot. It was wonderful hearing them approvingly react to America Ferrara’s monolog.
Much of the movie is like a musical, so I started wondering what a live-action Broadway play would look like. You just know that someone is planning for that already.
Did they get the “beach off” jokes?
I don’t know if I got it at the time.
A reason that Barbie may have legs at the box office is that it can be enjoyed by just about all ages. The kids get a movie with a lot of color, music, dancing, and a message of empowerment (for boys as well as girls), while adults also enjoy the sly pokes at corporate America, the true progress of DEI in our society, and hilarious adult jokes like the final line of the movie, which is likely to go over the heads of the little ones (Barbie is finally anatomically correct!)
I missed that too (and I am sadly not young any more so no excuse).
And now boys of all ages can challenge each other to beach off contests. 
The final line was something like, “I’m hear to make an appointment to see my gynecologist.”
The audience I was in completely lost it when this line was delivered.
But there’s a slight pause, because the audience is expecting the line to be something about a job interview or a new job and it takes a moment to sort out the subtext of the line.
Ryan George video for Barbenheimer is out.
Perhaps where you were. Where I was, the reaction was pretty much immediate. The line and the delivery of it is pretty funny just by itself, plus the surprise of it. Then the subtext just makes it funnier.
Also Todd in the Shadows review of Agua, including “Barbie Girl” song
I felt that the Mattel part with Will Farrell could easily have been cut out with no problem. Or even the daughter-she didn’t add anything.
Saw it today with my mother and sister. We were all of us excited to see it, and for whatever it’s worth, I’m a guy.
Deeply enjoyed by all. I did not see it coming that Ken would end up being the antagonist. Though they did do some foreshadowing of that earlier in the film when Barbie told Ken she didn’t want him to stay the night over at the Dream House.
The monologue by America Ferrera’s character was amazing. We all clapped.
Saw it. So many thoughts and feelings.
- Extremely funny. Laugh out loud funny. The jokes just landed perfectly for me and my husband.
- The diversion to get the Kens mansplaining and playing guitar at the Barbies… I died.
- I did not love the adversarial nature of the relationship between the genders, but I can’t help but feel that was intentionally provocative on the director’s part. IOW, I don’t think she was making a judgment that partial equality for the Kens is okay, but rather that’s just the way things are right now. And as my husband and I have discussed this round and round, it really depends on if you think Barbieland is an idea in the imagination of girls or an actual place. He argued that Barbieland as an idea for little girls should have female supremacy. But either way you slice it, it’s a provocative choice.
- I didn’t expect to get that deep into analysis of the Barbie movie.
- I love Ryan Gosling more and more with every film he’s in. All of the actors were excellent and 100% committed and sincere in their roles and that’s what makes it work, but I think he was a real stand-out, taking a simpleminded Ken and giving him significant emotional depth.
- I was nodding along with Herrera’s big monologue but also teasing apart why not every part of that lands for me. Yes, those pressures all absolutely exist… but many of them are optional. Maybe that’s my own privilege showing, but I learned early in life I was not going to be the belle of the ball and I was more interested in doing well at school than being attractive to men. Boys absolutely gave me shit for being openly smart but I didn’t care, and my mother for all her flaws at least modeled to me how not to give a shit what men thought about assertive women. She had a degree in mechanical engineering in the 80s. Though we took veeeeery different paths, we were each willing to accept the consequences of choosing our own path. So that combined with me having a truly egalitarian partnership combined with having a meaningful job where I work almost entirely with women… living in a web of other people’s expectations is just not my reality in a lot of ways. (Note: I was born in 1983.)
- Again, did not expect to do this soul-searching in response to a movie about Barbie.
Then there’s the nostalgia factor. I remember Barbie, Midge, Skipper, Beach Ken, I had the dreamhouse, the pink car, the fridge with the fake food, lordy I had it all. I was writing stories in my head with Barbie long before I actually started writing fiction in earnest. And they were all romantic thriller stories, too, with a good Ken and evil Ken and life or death stakes.
My husband gave it an A, and he’s really hard on movies.
I gave it an A-.
Not to hijack but if you like Ryan Gosling and have Netflix, and haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend The Gray Man. He’s fantastic and you also get to see Chris Evans as a completely sociopathic murdering creep.
It’s also pretty funny on top of the great action.