Also, oh my god, that scene at the bus stop. Seeing real life, real people, real beauty for the first time. "Achey, but good."
Proof you only need twelve minutes of deadly, heart-destroying perfection in two hours provided the rest is gleeful enough. When Will Ferrell is the least funny and most boring character in a movie, life is good.
Does feel like some of the captivating raw edges are shaved off relative to Gerwig's other work - naturally, given the budget and licensing, but I was foolishly hoping for like 20% more Lady-Bird-esque gut-punching honesty somewhere in here. (Gerwig probably does get closer than anyone else would.)
The queer subtext is delightful and it's so dumb that the rules of global blockbusters keep it 100% subtextual in 2023 (and that the subtextuality still doesn't save the film from rabid conservative backlash). I still bear a tiny tiny grudge against Gerwig for the flighty-gay-hurts-a-girl's-feelings uncomfortable moments in Lady Bird, and Allan's portrayal feels a little like a channeling of the same vibe. Plus there's a fine like between camp and ha-ha-let's-laugh-at-faggotry that the film IMO didn't perfectly navigate, but whatever, close enough, the queer cast totally kills it.
I don't get The Discourse about this movie that is critical of its feminism. People are attempting to read the movie's politics as if every line of dialogue was an essay written by Gerwig published in The Atlantic? Does no one in 2023 understand that art and polemic are usually different things? That if you are experiencing art or entertainment primarily for its contributions to The Discourse, you are missing 99% of what it's saying? Do they not realize how taking a movie that treats femininity as a subject as necessarily being a political statement about femininity requires a narrow & shallow view of femininity? It feels like these people are weirdly performing the same media consumption experience as the basement-dwelling dudes who criticize the existence of POC or female or queer characters as political propaganda. Yes, please, use art & entertainment to illustrate your feminist analysis, but spend your one wild and precious life developing an analysis of something beyond a movie please.
Review by callie_jenningsBlockedParentSpoilers2023-08-16T17:22:21Z— updated 2023-08-24T18:25:43Z
My second favorite movie about bottom surgery.
Also, oh my god, that scene at the bus stop. Seeing real life, real people, real beauty for the first time. "Achey, but good."
Proof you only need twelve minutes of deadly, heart-destroying perfection in two hours provided the rest is gleeful enough. When Will Ferrell is the least funny and most boring character in a movie, life is good.
Does feel like some of the captivating raw edges are shaved off relative to Gerwig's other work - naturally, given the budget and licensing, but I was foolishly hoping for like 20% more Lady-Bird-esque gut-punching honesty somewhere in here. (Gerwig probably does get closer than anyone else would.)
The queer subtext is delightful and it's so dumb that the rules of global blockbusters keep it 100% subtextual in 2023 (and that the subtextuality still doesn't save the film from rabid conservative backlash). I still bear a tiny tiny grudge against Gerwig for the flighty-gay-hurts-a-girl's-feelings uncomfortable moments in Lady Bird, and Allan's portrayal feels a little like a channeling of the same vibe. Plus there's a fine like between camp and ha-ha-let's-laugh-at-faggotry that the film IMO didn't perfectly navigate, but whatever, close enough, the queer cast totally kills it.
I don't get The Discourse about this movie that is critical of its feminism. People are attempting to read the movie's politics as if every line of dialogue was an essay written by Gerwig published in The Atlantic? Does no one in 2023 understand that art and polemic are usually different things? That if you are experiencing art or entertainment primarily for its contributions to The Discourse, you are missing 99% of what it's saying? Do they not realize how taking a movie that treats femininity as a subject as necessarily being a political statement about femininity requires a narrow & shallow view of femininity? It feels like these people are weirdly performing the same media consumption experience as the basement-dwelling dudes who criticize the existence of POC or female or queer characters as political propaganda. Yes, please, use art & entertainment to illustrate your feminist analysis, but spend your one wild and precious life developing an analysis of something beyond a movie please.