I went in with high hopes for this one. The marketing of Barbie, of course, was top notch, and for a straight year audiences were given glimpses into this garish 90's realm, blue skies and beaches, neon roller blades and Ryan Gosling's bleached hair. Then my girlfriend and I both saw it, and we both yawned.

For one, Barbie herself is unfortunately a bore when she should have been the shining light. Margot Robbie is one of the best actors working right now, but she couldn't even elevate this Nietzsche-ish interpretation of the character beyond the staid, reductive messaging the movie is trying to impart. She comes across as a mouthpiece, rather than a well drawn, or even fun character.

She spends the whole movie disturbed by something outside of herself, 'questioning her place in the world', when the real highlight - Gosling as Ken - gets to roam around freely and steal all of the scenes. This seems brutally unfair, and kind of the opposite of the intended effect.

This kind of topical storyline that strives for relevance rather than the irreverence I was hoping for makes for an extremely boring watch. Sorry, but we got tired of Barbie and her iterations fast. We both want the Ken movie now.