Oliver Stone Learned a Valuable Lesson About Criticizing Movies Without Seeing Them First

Look, I get it; it’s not always easy to have faith in Hollywood films these days, and you could even argue that a quick glance at a trailer or two can sometimes telegraph all the red flags you could ever really need.

But teeing up a whole verdict on a film with a highly respectable creative team and then-enigmatic plot details just because it’s called Barbie? Not a good look, Oliver Stone, but at least you’re able to admit that.

Following some resurfaced comments made by Stone in June 2023 about Barbie (in which he slams Ryan Gosling in particular for not “doing more serious films” and being “a part of this infantilization of Hollywood”), Stone took to social media to own up to his remarks, admitting that he made the comments before the film was even released.

Stone went on to commend Barbie for its originality, subject matter, and overall execution, and suggested his prior comments were indeed ignorant.

It’s hardly the first time that Stone has walked back a statement (though we’re still waiting on that apology for Alexander), but it’s one thing to inadvertently miscommunicate your political opinions, and quite another to do something as extraordinarily daft as publicly judging a movie with total conviction before it’s even been released; for a filmmaker of Stone’s status, that should certainly be beneath him.

Again, it’s fine if you’re not particularly keen on seeing the next MCU movie or whatever adventure the Minions go on next; in fact, if it’s made very clear that a film won’t offer anything other than empty fan service, I’d even call the disinterest commendable.

Hardly any idea is creatively dead in the water right from the outset; Barbie‘s unprecedented accomplishments in that realm are more than indicative of that, and we have Greta Gerwig’s meticulous TLC to thank for making Barbie what it is. Who’s to say that that same attention could never be applied to other unlikely seeds, and subsequently never rise to those same results? Even Five Nights at Freddy’s could have been a great movie had it spent far more time in the oven and followed a much better recipe.

Moral of the story? Don’t judge a movie by its title. It’s a very silly thing to do.

(featured image: Warner Bros.)