They screened two cuts that day-- a parents and children one and a late afternoon one for ages 15+. I went to the second with two friends and my girlfriend. We all HATED the movie. The film is extraordinarily incompetent from a storytelling and thematic level. I think it was designed to play in that way to evoke a heightened sense of "camp", but NOBODY laughed in my theater. I cannot BELIEVE they even thought this should play to kids. Not because the content is inappropriate, but because it the whole movie operates with such an undercooked, uninteresting perspective on gender politics that seems to only play to adults who have spent the past few years fully engrossed in debates on these issues.
None of it is clever, none of it is funny, and none of it is insightful. So many narrative choices come out of nowhere, and truly have absolutely zero emotional impact. The Ken musical number was ABYSMAL and went on forever. It was so weird to see something dragged out for so long, making the same joke over and over, playing before an incredibly hyped theater where nobody laughed once. Some of the set designs were cool, but truly this is one of the most depressing experiences I have ever had leaving a movie theater. I've actually felt depressed since seeing it yesterday, and by the film's climax I contemplated walking out of the theater. I might have if I went alone.
knew it was a bad sign when I was outside the theater and the parents and children were leaving together-- we were all commenting on how it looked like they were walking out of a funeral. Also, when the Barbie logo appeared at the start there was RAPTUROUS applause-- everyone was here to see what they assumed would be the great masterpiece of modern franchise filmmaking. When it ended, there was respectful applause and comments all around me saying "I really liked what it said about being yourself." "I really like the feminist perspective". Nobody thought it was fun but they were clearly in denial of how bad what they just saw was, and I don't think it's possible to give any deeper an assessment of the film than those two quotes. A genuine atrocity, one of the sloppiest and emptiest films I have ever seen.
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Aged like milk. Mo--n.
$1 BILLION
what’s it like being wrong
I just saw the movie tonight. The Mattel executives lied.
It's never a good sign when your big Time Magazine cover story involves company executives running damage control on what actors are saying on the press junket.
Robbie Brenner, executive producer of Mattel Films, called Gerwig’s film “not a feminist movie,” a sentiment echoed by other Mattel executives I spoke with. It was a striking contrast to my interpretation of the film and conversations with many of the actors, who used that term unprompted to describe the script. When I relay Mattel’s words to Margot Robbie, she raises an eyebrow. “Who said that?” she asks then sighs.
lol
I’ve seen the final cut of the movie. It’s fine, not amazing but definitely not a “train wreck”. I think people will enjoy it.
I’m familiar with this marketing and can clarify. The events being held tonight are not press screening for critics. They are preview screenings for social media influencers. The influencers got invites but the tickets were first come first serve, so people had to line up in hopes of getting in. That’s typically the way these things work.
Actual press screenings for critics are next month. The reasons they’ve been scheduled on the same day at the same time as Oppenheimer press screening is because WB knows the film is a complete train wreck. The strategy behind doing this is the hope that by making critics choose between attending the Barbie screening and the Oppenheimer screening, they will self-select for critics who are excited to see Barbie and therefore be more forgiving in their reviews.
WB is desperate for a win and they know WOM is going to ki-l any legs the film might have had, so they’re doing everything in their power to ride the existing hype train opening weekend.
This is total BS, the tickets for the screenings tonight and tomorrow we’re not given to a “hand picked group of Barbie stans”, they’re were given out in a lottery drawing.
Tonight is not really a press screening for critics, more so a press event. They’re being held this early is because there is a concern about a SAG strike in the near future that would mean the cast wouldn’t be able to show up to do interviews.
The real news breaking today is we found out they’ve decided to hold Barbie press screenings for critics next month on the exact same day/time that the Oppenheimer press screenings being held.
Make of that what you will.
This isn’t entirely true. We’re holding press screening tonight for a very select, hand picked group of critics; specifically young, female, explicitly progressive online influencers Barbie Stans. The strategy is to generate some virtually guaranteed positive buzz, so take anything you hear with a massive dose of salt.
They’re starting to do press screening of the film this weekend, so hopefully we’ll know soon enough if the film is any good once actual, professional reviews start rolling in.
@6mva+1naT2h44 and so is OP's post. Its from the same website.
@3lqc+1naT2h44 This is a review some random person posted online after attending a test screening for the film, how could you possibly know who they are?
As a stock holder of Mattel, go the largest stock holder of Mattel. See if they share your dismay over this business performance. Just mid boggling how a board of Directors can sign-off to execute salaries and get only hype in return for the investment. No real return of profit.
I do hope for my stocks sake there is enough buzz that it goes into at the the $20 range and I can sell this dumpster fire off already. Sadly, I had higher hopes that someone at Mattel was given a clue on how to spark interest or gain momentum for the company. I am the worlds biggest fool.
If you head over to Twitter, someone is coordinating dozens of bot accounts to reply to the official Barbie Movie account with:
“Will my granddaughters be watching this? H*LL NO!”
If you paste that into the search bar you’ll see for yourself.
It’s clearly inorganic. Perhaps some sort of an attempt by Warner Bros marketing to astroturf some controversy into the weeks leading up to the film’s release? Where else would this be coming from? Very strange.
Who do you think wrote this review?
Private equity will buy Mattel
I think at this point, the best Mattel can hope for is that the film doesn’t do too much damage to the Barbie toy brand.
The last thing we need right now is for the company to commit an unforced error by inserting itself into the culture war, so hopefully the filmmakers had enough sense not to include any heavy-handed progressive political messaging into the movie.
If you are close to Mattel as a Shareholder or employee, you are conditioned to being screwed. Always underwhelmed by hype spewing from executives. This will most likely be no different. Execs will get photos with movie stars and employees and shareholders will take where the sun doesn’t shine. Bend over if you are expecting anything good to come of these situations.
Only time will tell.
Had a few friends who went to the second LA test screening, which was the PG-13 cut and the crowd loved it and were laughing their as--s off. Forwarded this to those friends and they called bullsh-t.
I think I know who wrote this review. They've got some strange opinions regarding some films and come off as a bit of a contrarian. So take this with a massive grain of salt.
oh no, this news will most likely put a hold on that Hot Wheels movie for another 20 years. And a hold on that MOTU movie for another 15 years. And that 8Ball movie for another 5 years. Headwinds
It’s likely this film will receive a Rotten Tomatoes score somewhere in the mid-30% and will seen as one of the worst films of the year. Expect many Razzie Award nominations, especially for “auteur” writer/director duo Gerwig and Baumbach.
Let’s hope the other screening for parents and children was tighter and better.
They still have time to make changes and cuts up until the last minute.
Let’s just keep chanting “Sell more Barbies, Sell more Barbies” maybe that will help!
Ankles and waist way too thick.
Not enough face paint.
But the lead-based candies were tasty.
Anyone surprised