October 10, 2023

Barbie (2023) ****

Definitely not for kids, this is a rather cynical satiric comedy about feminism and patriarchy. Many jokes try very hard for a second or even a third degree, but don't always succeed. In fact, by subverting everything and refusing to take anything at face value in the first half of the film, "Barbie" might confuse some viewers in the second half, when it suddenly strives for some first degree humour with decidedly mixed results. For instance, if Barbieland is supposed to be a mirror image of the real world, as the first half of the film suggests, then logically, in the second half of the film, the feminist revolt led by all the Barbies could be interpreted as encouraging men in our world to revolt against the feminists who are, after all, trying to do exactly the same things as the Kens in Barbieland.