The Couch Critic
The Couch Critic is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critic brings thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critic
Taking on Barbie Pt. 2 (Surprise Episode)
Picture this: four movie buffs, all decked out in pink, excitedly queueing up for what could be the most sensational cinematic experience of the year. The Barbie Movie - worth the hype or a complete letdown? That’s what we’re here to find out on this episode of Natey and Katy: At the Movies. We're spilling all the tea today, from the nostalgic thrill of seeing our favorite Barbie accessories come to life on the big screen, to the awkward moments we couldn't help but laugh at.
But fair warning, the Barbie glamor fades quickly as we start dissecting the movie. The storyline may have dazzled our eyes, but did it captivate our hearts? We share our candid thoughts on the confusing plot, the characters we ended up rooting for, and the question on everyone's mind - was Barbie or Ken the real star of the show? We didn't just watch the Barbie Movie, we immersed ourselves in it, and we've got a lot to say about the highs, the lows, and everything in between. So, buckle up and join us for a rollercoaster review of a film that had us questioning everything we thought we knew about the world of Barbie.
One's a movie buff, one watches movies, just enough Together. Fun will be had by all. This is Nadie and Katie at the Movies.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to another episode of Nadie and Katie at the Movies. I'm your host, katie, and it's ladies there. Our last episode was just the dudes. Nathan and Jetson recorded a review about Barbie, but today it is the ladies turn to review. Let's see what we have to share, that it's maybe the same and different, and to do that I'm joined by two very dear friends, that is, laura and Lee. Welcome and their twins.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's right. Thanks for having us and we're 101. Yeah, 101. Episode 101, baby, that's right.
Speaker 2:Donations so we all saw the movies. You saw it together with our friend Holly Mm-hmm. When did you see the movie?
Speaker 3:We saw it last week, tuesday, tuesday, so a little over a week ago. We got dressed up in pink. We did the whole thing. It was fun.
Speaker 2:I went with my mom and my new sister-in-law Shout out Kayla and we went together. We did not wear pink but it was fun to go with, like mother-daughter kind of vibe. Did you feel weird not wearing pink? I did feel a little bit weird, I saw a lot of girls there wearing pink.
Speaker 3:You guys were not the Barbie.
Speaker 2:We were the Stacey's.
Speaker 3:Stacey didn't even make an appearance in this.
Speaker 2:Very sad about that.
Speaker 3:There was a lot of things that weren't in there and there was a lot that was so.
Speaker 2:Let's start off. We don't need to do synopsis. The movie was about Barbie, A little bit about Ken. What's your first? Let's start with Lee. What was your first initial? Just vibe Like give me some quick highlights, things you like.
Speaker 3:So visually it's awesome it being seen everything brought to life Our size. That was really cool. Toys that we did not get as kids because we were poor. Rich friends had them, so seeing them in real life was awesome. I will say, though, I was underwhelmed with the whole thing. As a movie as a whole I was underwhelmed, but visually it was stunning.
Speaker 2:Okay, do you agree?
Speaker 3:I agree with that. Visually it was really stunning. I think it tapped into a nostalgia side which was really fun for an 80s kid Well, 85. By the time. I was playing with Barbies. I was in the 90s, so it was really fun to see the Barbie car and the dream house and all the different Barbies and I definitely was the kind of Barbie player who gave her cuts and put makeup on them. So just see that funny. What was her name? Mckenna.
Speaker 2:Yeah, her character made me laugh Because.
Speaker 3:I had a lot of Barbies that looked like her, so the nostalgia was strong and that made it fun. But yeah, the shower scene where she puts her hands up and like she's no waters coming out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like a doll house. Yeah, it was funny I think, going off what you're saying, I feel like I also was very underwhelmed with the movie and I felt like the first 15 minutes, maybe even the first 10 minutes, was the best part. Yes, because it was like silly and fun and big and nostalgic and then it just like kind of dropped off for me. So I'm in agreement. So the guys said that they liked it. They said it was good script writing, good directing, they love Greta. What did we think about the storyline?
Speaker 3:What story line?
Speaker 2:I'm with you.
Speaker 3:It was all over the place. I mean the patriarchy. I mean what a vague. I mean I just don't know, I just don't. I didn't quite understand what the goal was. Who was the villain? Mattel?
Speaker 2:Or what was it? I was struggling.
Speaker 3:I guess, ken, at some point when he takes over Barbie land.
Speaker 2:Cause I thought it was gonna be Will Ferris character Totally.
Speaker 3:Why was he important? I mean, he didn't even have a big role. Well, I thought the same thing about America Ferreros, her character. I was like what are okay? So you were feeling depressed. So then you made you messed up Barbie, but what did we do to help her?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like what's her story line. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Did we fix her?
Speaker 2:I don't know, nothing changed. Nothing changed for her. Nothing super changes, I guess maybe Ken is the relationship with the mother and daughter.
Speaker 3:Nothing changed. Like there was and I thought maybe that is gonna be an interesting story. They connected a little at the end but they found some. They worked together but it was minimal, it was minimal, considering that it was her fault that Barbie land was going, wasn't even in the first place, yeah, but they really didn't do a great job of really seeing her restoration. So we see Barbie lands restoration. It wasn't huge. It was not a huge part of the story, even though it was supposed to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Because we're all the way out. Maybe it's too predictable, but were you disappointed that there was no change to the real world Like I was picturing it was gonna be? Like Barbie comes in and somehow like change to the real world, or maybe real world comes in and like greatly changes Barbie world, but it does basically go back to the same. Am I correct that at the end of the movie, barbie world is back to the same, which is basically a female in charge. Ken, they're servants.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, it didn't change. Yeah, nothing changed In both sides. This is kind of one of those things I was thinking about was both sides see a different type. There's not equality in either world. One side is in power and I kind of felt like Barbie is the new feminism, where, like it's not, it's the men's turn is up and the girls turn to be in power.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a lot of equality, but it's our turn to be in it's our turn to be in charge, and the real world is the opposite of that. But neither side really shows us what true justice looks like. So that was. I just clearly felt like a little bit of an agenda to me that I don't know that I picked up on, but we've seen her do that before a little bit and little women.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, you feel like it was too preachy. I expected it to be a little bit feminist. It's like a movie about Barbie. I wanted to feel empowered but, I felt like the preachiness was too scattered and I couldn't tell who it was ripping on. Is it ripping on patriarchy, or is it ripping on Mattel? Or is it ripping on the idealized version of a woman?
Speaker 3:Like what All of it wasn't it yeah?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I don't know who the bad guy was, Did you? How'd you feel about Alan?
Speaker 3:Okay, I liked Alan. He's been one of my favorite characters. I don't know, Maybe they are.
Speaker 2:Lee.
Speaker 3:I don't know, but he was funny to me. He was just his comic relief. But like I also just love Michael Sierra, so I just liked his. Like he's just awkward and like I like his, I just like his demeanor in movies. So maybe that's why I like Alan. But you're right, he really didn't play a role important role we could he could have been removed and the movie would have been the same.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I felt that way about a lot of the characters. Yeah, if you at the end of the movie, obviously we're ladies so we might identify more with Barbie's character, margot Robbins but do you think as a whole people would rather like attach more with Ken or Barbie? Cause I'm a little troubled. I feel like Ken won the movie over, like I wanted more scenes with him than Barbie and I don't feel like that's what my the goal should be of a Barbie Like that big dancing.
Speaker 3:That was hilarious, for all the Ken's are dancing and the fight scene on the beach. I mean those were the after. The first 15 minutes that we all agreed was like the highlight in terms of like nostalgia. The second half, for me the funny part, were the Ken episodes for the Ken episodes, but the Ken seems they were just funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and.
Speaker 3:I was rooting for Ken. I wanted to see him find himself, Cause he was just this lost character of like who am I without Barbie? And trying to force this identity to feel important, and I'm like. I just want you to find yourself.
Speaker 1:Like who are you?
Speaker 3:Which may be a segue to a Ken movie. Anybody there setting up Ken up for like a Ken movie?
Speaker 2:I don't, I don't know, I'm not a Ken movie.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'd watch it. I thought Ken was funny.
Speaker 2:Well, I feel like overall positive, negative. Like, would you suggest a girl to see it, a guy to see it? Do you think men and women need to see it or we learn from it? I did not. I personally feel like go have a girls night, you'd be better off just going and having drinks with your girlfriends and like having good, genuine conversation.
Speaker 3:I don't think this movie needs to be seen in a theater. You know, there's some movies that like, oh man, you just gotta go. I don't know if this is it. I do think it's a fun watch. Maybe it was a fun excuse for a girls night, right, but you could also have a movie night at your home. Invite your girls over, and it would be sufficient enough.
Speaker 2:Go see Mean Girls.
Speaker 3:It's built up to the point where, like, I expected it to be this phenomenal cinematic adventure and I was just. I mean, some of it was silly. I mean, like how easy it was for Barbie to go to the real world. That was weird to me. Like all these, you gotta ride the, you gotta ride the convertible to the rocket, and then you gotta take the rocket to the boat and then you're in the real world Also backwards.
Speaker 2:The problem was supposed to be solved. We just gotta get Barbie back to Barbie Land. So then she gets back to Barbie Land. The movie should have ended like that, was it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then real people can come into Barbie World. Like I just had a hard time following that. I was like this just feels silly, all these men on this big, long bike. I mean it was funny, but also, this isn't I didn't expect kind of.
Speaker 2:It doesn't sound like any of us were majorly offended. I know there's so much like new on the news from like very far right of like. Oh, this is such a woke movie. Did you feel like? I didn't feel like it was overly woke? It was almost because I didn't feel like it was executed well. It failed to be any type of agenda.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I was not offended.
Speaker 2:I wasn't offended, but it was a wild Right. Right, you could be offended, sure. So we rate our movies on a scale of six stars, one being absolute trash, six being, you know, my favorite movie of all, which is Mean Girls, or maybe how to lose a guy in 10 days. That's probably up there as well. Where would you put this movie on the scale? The gentleman ranked it as four and a five. That's wild. I'm going to give it a 2.5.
Speaker 1:Ooh pretty mean. Is that close for you and maybe that's?
Speaker 2:maybe a disappointing movie is that women are too harsh on themselves, and maybe I'm being too harsh.
Speaker 3:Well, I will say they nailed it with the Barbie. She is the most beautiful woman on the planet. Yes, margot Robbie is the perfect. Well, I mean, yes, I would love, I mean, if we all could look like her. That would be amazing. The movie that failed for me and I would also probably give it a three.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, Laura.
Speaker 3:I'm going to, I'm going to team up with the 2.5. Oh so low. Yeah, it was fine. Whatever it wasn't, I don't need to see it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, agree.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It wasn't a terrible movie if I hadn't built up in my head so much.
Speaker 3:Thanks a lot. Yeah, I wonder how much I would have liked it more if I hadn't been like so hyped for it.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:I was so excited.
Speaker 2:Well, there you have it, folks. That is the ladies version. Gentlemen, thank you, we appreciate you. Silly cans you, but you're a can of, so don't worry, that was a fantastic episode. All right, and we always end our episode with a fun quote. Is there any fun quote?
Speaker 3:One quote I did like was when Barbie said it's Barbie and it's Ken, it's Katie and it's Nady. Yeah, amen.
Speaker 1:I love you guys, thanks for listening to Nady and Katie at the Movies. Feel free to leave us a review so people can find the show. Follow us on all our social media platforms and if there's a movie that you want us to watch, feel free to contact us at nadyandkateyatgmailcom. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
