All of this. I'm not pro third wave feminism but I absolutely loved the messaging about the toxic state of Ken.
I ended up watching it, and I'd have to agree. I ain't a third wave feminist and didn't like a lot of the messaging about the war of the sexes, but I don't think that kept it from being a hilarious film. The feminist messaging wasn't even that heavy-handed until the end.
And while MGTOW-adjacent (I find the movement a bit harmful TBH), I do think their messaging about being a simp was pretty good. I approve of anti-simp messaging.
Funniest movie I've seen in 2023: Barbie
Most emotional movie I've seen in 2023: Sound Of Freedom (Runner-up: Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3)
Best action movie I've seen in 2023: Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (Runner-up: John Wick Chapter 4)
Actually, it's either a) big name actors who are demanding more money upfront because of disappearing residuals, or b) shooting in expensive locations. There are many such cases of both of these factors coming together to create a perfect storm too.
Say what you will about Sound Of Freedom, but that movie was made on a $14.5 million dollar budget by an indie studio shooting at economic locations while not overpaying the main cast. If this was made by a major studio, I bet it would cost about $75 million at least to make the same looking movie with equivalent-calibre actors and similar looking locations. (It should also be pointed out that Angel Studios has already agreed to the Hollywood unions' terms, so it's likely they have already been giving their actors and writers fair residuals for awhile now, due to their low resistance to the terms.)
Imagine comparing Mission Impossible to Fast & Furious. That's like comparing escargot to a snail you found on the side of the road.
If you liked the first movie, you might want to check out the TV show. It's the only film that retained much of the DNA from the original series except for the masks of course.
I guess this is what happens when you give a director creative control over a project!
Not comedy, but postmodern self-awareness to the point where the content doesn't take itself seriously anymore.
I recently saw a really good video about this called "Well, that just happened": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLAahsH9e7k