Should you see 'Barbie' or 'Oppenheimer' this weekend? Critics weigh in.
Hope you've been banking your Ken-ergy, because "Barbenheimer" is upon us at last. After weeks of pre-release hype, the odd couple duo of Barbie and Oppenheimer are now playing in multiplexes nationwide. Theater chains like AMC are already touting the big pre-sales for double bills of Greta Gerwig's toy-based fantasia and Christopher Nolan's fact-based biopic as a sign that moviegoers are more invested in these original summer movies than sequels like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and the seventh Mission: Impossible film — both of which debuted below opening weekend expectations.
For those audiences that aren't seeing both films, the popular choice seems clear. All projections indicate that Barbie is going to be quite the box office party, easily cruising past $100 million over its opening weekend and possibly reaching as much as $140 million, which would be a new record for a movie directed by a female filmmaker. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is hoping to make half of Barbie's first weekend gross, but will hang around theaters for the rest of the summer hoping that elusive audience for adult-oriented fare turns up.
But which movie should you go and see? Here's a sampling of how Barbie and Oppenheimer are playing with critics, and what the directors themselves thinks of "Barbenheimer."
What's the hot take on Barbie?
Barbie ain't your typical toy movie
A thoughtful and uproarious film whose marketing has been so loud and ceaseless that the skeptics who've been turned off by all the hoopla might be surprised to find a soulful film underneath all the persistent fuchsia they've been served out of context. One that has heart and ambition as well as abundant beauty, inside and out. — Tomris Laffly, The Wrap
Margot Robbie is Barbie
Robbie takes an archetype long dismissed as an airheaded caricature and, moment by deeply felt moment, teases and fleshes her out. With her radiant smiles and goofy-graceful physicality, she inhabits Barbie’s glamour and entitlement as effortlessly as she inhabits her hot-pink bell bottoms. But she also gradually punctures those upbeat vibes with tremulous notes of vulnerability and premonitions of disaster, right around the time her Barbie notices a patch of cellulite and begins having incongruous thoughts of death. — Justin Chang, The Los Angeles Times
Ryan Gosling is just Ken-tastic
Let the Best Supporting Actor campaign begin now for Gosling's work as Ken ... Few actors have ever seemed to have this level of communion with a role, and Gosling brings out all the flavors that come with Gerwig's approach to the character, and his importance to the story. There are moments where Gosling looks flat-out ridiculous in this movie, in ways that feel far braver than driving a motorcycle off a mountain, and are far more powerful (and hilarious) as a result. — Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence
But the movie isn't what the trailers promise
Gerwig spends far too much screen time analyzing what it means to make a Barbie movie in 2023, and far too little time actually telling that story. The result is a smattering cinematic collection of philosophical conversations about the historical relation between Barbie and the feminist movement, broken up by the comedic relief from Gosling, Kate McKinnon and Simu Liu, and strung together by the story of how Barbie and her real-world owner use their philosophical conversations to destroy the growing patriarchy in Barbie society. — Joshua Medintz, Cincinnati Enquirer
And the politics get in the way of the story
However smartly done Gerwig's Barbie is, an ominousness haunts the entire exercise. The director has successfully etched her signature into and drawn deeper themes out of a rigid framework, but the sacrifices to the story are clear. The muddied politics and flat emotional landing of Barbie are signs that the picture ultimately serves a brand. This wouldn't be as concerning if the future of films weren't blighted by Mattel's franchise ambitions. After all, we can't get all our humanist lessons from corporate toymakers. — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter
What's the hot take on Oppenheimer?
It's full of fiery drama
A feverish three-hour immersion in the life of Manhattan Project mastermind J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), is poised between the shock and aftershock of the terrible revelation, as one character calls it, of a divine power. There are times in Nolan's latest opus that flames fill the frame and visions of subatomic particles flitter across the screen — montages of Oppenheimer’s own churning visions. But for all the immensity of Oppenheimer, this is Nolan's most human-scaled film — and one of his greatest achievements. — Jake Coyle, Associated Press
Cillian Murphy finally gets to be Batman
At the center of this maelstrom is Oppenheimer, whom Nolan lionizes to the point of having him don his trademark hat and coat like he was Bruce Wayne putting on his Batsuit. Murphy imbues the scientist with so many warring traits, impulses, and instincts — he's peerlessly perceptive and blind to his own faults; ambitious and uneasy in the spotlight; self-possessed and ultimately unsure of his choices — that his countenance resonates as a topographical map of his increasingly harried soul. It's a magnificent marquee turn from the Peaky Blinders star (and frequent Nolan collaborator), providing a micro and macro concept of the physicist's internal and external battles. — Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
But it omits crucial historical context
Once the bomb goes off, however, Nolan struggles to convey the immensity of the cross that Oppenheimer was left to bear. Oppenheimer grows frustratingly vague at the precise moment it seems poised to reckon with the unique burden of its namesake's brilliance. We don't see Hiroshima and Nagasaki because Oppenheimer doesn't see Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but by that logic we should at least be privy to Oppenheimer's thoughts — self-conflicted as they must be — because Oppenheimer is plagued by them without stop. — David Ehrlich, Indiewire
And the film's excessive style gets wearying
Where the style is far less effective, it browbeats the audience into submission with little substance behind it. Ludwig Göransson wrote a good score, but the constant use of it is exhausting ... Oppenheimer is just barreling through historical events with an oppressive score. Nolan doesn't need to play music while Oppenheimer is just engaging in dialogue in a classroom. Just let some scenes breathe. — Fred Topel, UPI
What have Gerwig and Nolan said about each other's movies?
"It's all love — double up, double up twice. I think you've got to see what the experience is, Barbie then Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer then Barbie. I think you've got to take all of the journeys." — Greta Gerwig speaking to The Hollywood Reporter
"Summer, in a healthy marketplace, is always crowded, and we've been doing this a long time. I think for those of us who care about movies, we've been really waiting to have a crowded marketplace again, and now it's here and that's terrific." — Christopher Nolan speaking to IGN
Barbie and Oppenheimer are playing in theaters now; visit Fandango for showtime and ticket information.
