'Birds of Prey' - Movie Review

I guess Margot Robbie likes Harley Quinn: having played her in "Suicide Squad," she's back in her own starring vehicle - and a producer. ("Executive Producer" sounds fancier, but the plain-old producers are the ones with the power.) But I don't like Harley Quinn. All this movie did was convince me she's got no super powers (she swings a mean bat, but that doesn't count), she's batshit crazy, she's unlikeable, and - most important when you're making a movie about her - she's not very funny. And yes, they were going for "funny" because the full title of the movie is "Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)."

The movie starts by showing us that she's split with Joker. And while we also see she has bad impulse control and bad planning, she's well aware that his name - and her relationship with him - is protecting her. When she acknowledges to herself and the city that they've split up, a lot of people try to kill her. There's also a very expensive diamond, a kid sidekick, an evil crime lord, and several kick-ass women.

Mildly amusing at best. Could have been better if they'd included more of Harley's new pet - a spotted hyena she named "Bruce Wayne." Or more psychiatry: Harley has a Ph.D. in Psychiatry, she met Joker because she was treating him. As crazy as she is, that knowledge is still in there. It popped out a couple times in this movie, but it could have been used a lot more to much better effect - somebody should have told the writers that that's her superpower.