He’s more obsessed than Ken.
Fanning out over “Barbie” no longer just belongs to the starry-eyed teenyboppers, as a 59-year-old father’s fascination with the movie is garnering viral acclaim — as well as some cheeky flirtations from the ladies.
“It’s a masterpiece,” raved Dan O’Brien, from Carmel, Calif., to The Post.
O’Brien’s son, Conor, a 26-year-old consultant in Manhattan, shared a text message featuring his dad’s glowing review of Great Gerwig’s $1 billion blockbuster, starring Margot Robbie, 33, online earlier this week and immediately went viral.
His pop’s red-hot response to the pink powerhouse has amassed over 5.9 million TikTok views from fawning fans.
“I think ‘Barbie’ is going to change the world,” read O’Brien’s text to his family group chat. “We will think of life as BB/AB, ‘Before Barbie’ and ‘After Barbie.’”
The married dad of three liked the movie so much, he told The Post he paid to see the buzzy motion picture in theaters for the second time on Wednesday.
“They should turn this movie into an 800-page novel,” added the retired grocery workers union rep. “It’s all about the strength of women. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
O’Brien willingly accompanied his wife Cyndie, a chief marketing executive in her fifties, to see the flick around the time it first hit theaters on July 21 — thinking it’d be nothing more than a puff piece about a plastic plaything.
But after seeing its snappy, unflinching jabs at the plague of patriarchy, Barbie instantly became O’Brien’s hero.
“What men [of all ages] can get out of this movie is the power of women,” he told The Post. “She might not have the superpowers of Superman, but she has the superpowers of being a woman.”
“Once Barbie steps into the real world, she gets it,” he added, likening the iconic doll to his wife of 33 years. “She has intuition, perseverance and strength — men should want to marry a woman who’s a warrior.”
And Conor agreed, telling The Post, “In ‘Barbie,’ all the Barbies and powerful, running their entire Barbie-land, and then there are just these pathetic boys (the Ken dolls) trying to find their way.”
In O’Brien’s texted appraisal of the flick, he not only likened the doll to cartoon crusaders like Superman and Spider-Man, but he also compared her feature film to an Academy Award-winning classic.
“She even takes down the greatest movie of all time, ‘The Godfather,’ as a movie men feel compelled to mansplain to women,” O’Brien wrote in his family group text, comprised of wife Cyndie, their two daughters, ages 29 and 32, and Conor.
He even went as far as to say that Gerwig’s project is now one of his “top 5” favorite films. “Here, Barbie is saying, ‘Step aside Godfather, there is now something newer, bigger & much more profound & important to talk about.”
And his impassioned praise didn’t stop there.
The unabashed Barbie buff went on to liken the movie’s social impact to that of John F. Kennedy’s landmark presidency as the nation’s first Catholic Head of State and to President Barak Obama’s election as the first black person to helm the White House.
“Woe is the man who cannot admire, respect and honor Barbie,” wrote O’Brien, “Men and boys thought women and girls didn’t see through them — Barbie proves they always have.”
He poetically concluded his analysis, writing, “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men will never put Barbie back in her box again.”
And the daddy’s unwavering love for the dolly has TikTok tickled pink — seeing some even express interest in arranging an adult playdate with papa.
“Plaster this in Times Square,” cheered a fan of O’Brien’s heartfelt hot take.
“Biggest green flag from your dad,” applauded another impressed commenter.
“Obsessed with the fact that The Godfather and Barbie are in his top 5 films, the duality of man,” another said.
“I’m not sure if I want your dad to also be my dad or if I want to know if he’s single,” purred a hot-to-trot admirer. “LOVE THIS ENERGY!”
But O’Brien’s far from the only guy who’s been swept up by Barbie’s pink wave in the wake of her recent pop cultural explosion.
Grooms like Hudson Smith, 24, from Oklahoma City, Okla., rocked a Barbiecore-inspired pink tuxedo for his and bride Arin’s posh July 2022 nuptials.
Men across the nation have, too, proudly crowned themselves “Barbie boys” as they donned various shades of the icon’s preferred color and sucked down cool “Pink Cotton Candy” treats from Cold Stone Creamery — a snack that was added to the ice cream shop’s menu just days before the “Barbie” movie’s world premiere.
The demonstrations of super-fandom from other guys aside, O’Brien’s ode to the film reigns supreme.
And while he deems the saucy social media reactions to his review “flattering” — Cyndie finds commenters’ come-ons amusing, too — the dad hopes more men begin to embrace Barbie’s overarching message.
“The movie makes me rethink the movies I’ve loved my whole life, like ‘The Godfather,’ where there isn’t on significant woman character,” O’Brien said, noting that he still regards the 1972 cinema as one of the greats.
“‘Barbie’ makes you want out of this male-dominated world.”
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