BARBIE Review

Barbie has its fake plastic cake and eats it too. When the first note of Lizzo's "Pink" drops accompanying the reveal of production designer Sarah Greenwood's "Barbieland" as these real-life dolls dressed in Jacqueline Durran‘s wardrobe descend from their Dreamhouses there is a sense that what we, the audience and spectator, are being welcomed into are images and feelings that possess an equal amount of simplicity and elegance. There is the immediate sense of influence in that one can easily see images and references from this movie integrating themselves into the culture; stills painted in Hollywood murals alongside classics like The Wizard of Oz or characters standing next to Marilyn Monroe. At the same time, there is an adventurous sense that one has no idea what they're truly getting themselves into or at least, where this movie might go both literally and thematically. By the final scene (or two) of the film it is clear this duality of simplicity and elegance is wholly intentional so that the film works on different levels for different audience members whether that be someone who currently plays with dolls, someone who once played with dolls, or even those who always felt too boxed in by expectation to either play with dolls themselves or at least acknowledge the appeal of them. 

Yes, this is a movie about a doll, but the “we’ll sell more toys” aspect didn’t bother or invade my experience because of how intelligently writer/director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women) uses this packaging to tell the story she and co-writer/life partner Noah Baumbach decided to tell or how it emphasizes the themes they wanted to explore and discuss. In addition to the levels and ideas (or levels of ideas), Barbie is also just a Technicolor fever dream of musical numbers and comedy bits that land with such frequency that even if your sympathy for Ken is maybe greater than it is for Barbie or even if Allan weirds you out a little bit (which we’ll get to) there is plenty here for all to enjoy if not hopefully (eventually) consider.

Green & Red-Band Trailers for A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS

Well, that was fast. Less than a year after the first film debuted in theaters we have trailers for a new Bad Moms movie and this time they're not just tackling everything moms have to take care of and look after in general, but they're specifically tackling the holiday season which, honestly, is totally fair game. Though I wasn't a fan of writer/directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore's first film, you can read my review here, they have returned to write and direct this sequel as well. It would seem Lucas and Moore have a very limited range of topics they're interested in tackling as they wrote the original Hangover screenplay and then went on to pen and direct 2013's 21 & Over which was fine, but totally forgettable and that seems to be where this presumably never-ending line of Bad Moms movies will end-up. The casting of Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and (most importantly) Kathryn Hahn was one of the key highlights of that first film so having those three back and more in sync with one another's personalities this time around should bode well for the picture as does the fact Lucas and Moore have written in roles for their mothers who will be played by Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, and Susan Sarandon. Boy, between A Bad Moms Christmas and Daddy's Home 2 this holiday season will have no lack of Christmas-themed family comedies or work for aging movie stars. And while I'm in no way excited for what A Bad Moms Christmas likely has to offer it could have found its groove and this time around provide enough charm that it could win me over, but even with a red band trailer to show us all the bawdy jokes this thing has to offer I'm still not sold as the only time I laughed throughout either of these trailers was when Baranski showed up to deliver her deadpan lines. Presuming the majority of the comedy will come from the dynamic between our three leads dealing with the holiday visits of their mothers and extended families it would be nice if the majority of the laughs derive from these situations rather than only counting on otherwise innocent moms cussing and doing things that are supposed to be outrageous while that latest DJ hit drops in the background. All of that said, I am sad Christina Applegate's character doesn't seem to be back for the sequel. Oh, well. A Bad Moms Christmas also stars Jay Hernandez, Peter Gallagher, David Walton, Wanda Sykes, Emjay Anthony, Oona Laurence, Ariana Greenblatt, and opens on November 3rd, 2017.