A girlfriend of mine recently received an invitation from the Kalamazoo Public Library to a special screening of a movie at the Portage Celebration Cinema. And she knew just the friend who needed to accompany her—a friend who understood the complexity of this thought-provoking serious movie. Or as she put it, “I knew you’d like this, and that I could suffer through it.”
While many adults are hitting the movie theatres for the opening of “Oppenheimer,” a true story about the dark beginnings of nuclear weapons and the atomic age, another dark movie opens on this blockbuster weekend – “Barbie.”
OK, not dark, the most opposite from “dark” a movie can be. Colorful, funny, and with just the right balance of self-deprecation, “Barbie” is part “Toy Story,” part “Wizard of Oz,” and part “The Truman Show.” And like Woody in “Toy Story,” this story follows Barbie, who becomes self-aware and goes in search of her place in Barbieland and in the real world. “Barbie” stars the charming duo of Margo Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
While no one will accuse Barbie of being the new feminist anthem for today’s young women, the message here is a positive one to girls. And it’s fun enough for everyone else. And PINK. If you don’t embrace the color here, you’re taking yourself too seriously. Seriously, seeing the theatre goers embracing their inner and outer pink was as delightful as the movie itself. So, grab your girlfriends and grab your pinkest outfit. It’s all fun.