Back in the day, I really enjoyed Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel doing movie reviews. I generally agreed with Ebert, but in retrospect, I think Siskel kept him honest, because after Siskel's death, I found Ebert just wasn't as reliable.
I mention this because Siskel had a fun metric to decide if a movie was any good. It was simply to ask if one would rather watch the movie on the screen or documentary footage of the cast sharing a meal.
Many times I've used it because it cuts through whatever admiration one may have for the cast in spite of the plot.
Which brings us to the Barbie movie. My wife and daughter saw it last week and neither enjoyed it. My wife found it boring.
My daughter, who had really looked forward to it, was conflicted. After I explained the Siskel Test to her, she agreed that watching the cast eat lunch would have been much more fun and she would have gotten more out of it.
I've no intention of seeing the film, but I doubt I will disagree with her.
Chateau Lloyd 
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