I Love You, You Hate Me
★★ ½
I was a bit too old for Barney's intended audience, but I certainly wasn't too young to remember the backlash to the popular children's show character. I Love You, You Hate Me has technically been labeled a T.V. series (two episodes), but it's basically a film with strategic commercial breaks to force Peacock subscribers to watch ads.
This documentary could have easily been better than it ends up becoming. It is very well made and the filmmakers have certainly done their research. I don't know if I remember seeing a doc with so many interviews and they handle their narratives very well. They know who to pay attention to and do a good job of connecting you to the subjects despite some of them not having a ton of screen time. It's truly interesting to see how a small-budget children's series broke through to super stardom, but we fail to see the intricacies of what really made that happen. Instead, the filmmakers go all in on the cultural impact that Barney had, especially on '90s culture.
I'm not denying that Barney made a lasting impression on a lot of people, but I think they give way too much credit to this purple dinosaur. Barney did blossom at the wrong time as anti-corporate angst was on the quick rise as well, but the filmmakers make a lot of connections, even to today's political movements, that are unfair to both sides of the coin. I particularly had issues with how the film explains the creator's son's, let's say, unusual behavior as an adult. Do I think that growing up in the shadow of Barney might contribute to some of his angst? Sure. But I have an issue when someone that interacted with him as a child over 25 years ago is trying to diagnose his current issues now.
Those who have a relationship with the Barney franchise may enjoy this trip down nostalgia lane, but if you don't, it's easy to get offended by some of the tactics that are used to get specific points across.
