People from the real world have thoughts on Barbie
Barbenheimer Friday is upon us, which means that people who aren't paid to write about movies can finally weigh in on the films
If you woke up this morning feeling a little floatier than usual, it’s probably because, from this day forth, the world has forever changed. And no, we’re not talking about the atomic bomb movie, although, as you may have heard once or twice, that film opens today as well.
No, we’re obviously talking about Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, this writer’s film event of the year (the decade?) and early box office favorite in the war of Physics vs. Fantastic. While early press screenings (and fabulous pink carpets) began rolling out on July 9 to glowing reviews from critics, it’s well known at this point that sometimes those first viewers of a film can be swayed by the rose-colored glasses of the whole experience (literally, in this case).
To get the full truth of the universe, then, it’s important to also take the real world—e.g. the Rotten Tomatoes audience score—into account. But at a whopping 90%, the truth is just about as glittery as we hoped. As Margot Robbie, John Cena, and Ryan Gosling have all been waxing for a year, people simply love Barbie.
Among the over 1,000 audience reviews Rotten Tomatoes aggregated to get their score, people hailed the film as the “biggest surprise of the year” and “literally perfect in every way.” As one commenter wrote: “Greta Gerwig, I love you. Thank you for my full circle moment, this movie made me feel understood… AI could not make something like this.”