Barbie

Rating

Director

Greta Gerwig

Screenplay

Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach

Length

1h 54m

Starring

Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, Helen Mirren

MPAA Rating

PG-13

Original Preview

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Review

Every intellectual property in existence is getting its own movie, so it comes as no surprise that Barbie has gotten one as well. Unlike the myriad direct-to-video offerings Mattel has put forward in its storied history, this live-action version makes the case for thought-provoking and socially conscious adaptations that encourage pensiveness without sacrificing fun.

Greta Gerwig has chosen her third solo directorial effort to swing for the fences on a property that carries with it certain liabilities. Not only is it based on a range of dolls designed for young girls, but it has been the butt of thousands of jokes from all corners of popular culture, even those who are fans of the feminist toys. Gerwig, with co-writer and partner Noah Baumbach, has taken this tale of Barbie to a meta level that allows it to work on many levels. In Barbieland, women rule and men are their subservient counterparts. The ladies control all forms of government and important roles in society while the boys merely live in it; albeit in a largely peaceful and friendly coexistence. As Margot Robbie’s garden variety Barbie begins to have self-doubts, existential thoughts about death, and more, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will take her into the real world where a patriarchal nightmare awaits her and her stowaway compatriot Ken (Ryan Gosling).

The cast is largely on-point, but succeeds entirely on the performances of five individuals. Robbie carries the weight of the film, giving stereotypical Barbie a human depth that might have come off as generic or even plastic in other hands. Her skill at balancing broad comedy and human pathos gives Barbie a wonderful framework through which to grow from oblivious naivete into existential crisis with a self-aware assurance that many actors her age don’t possess. Gosling goes all-in on the character as written for him, playing Ken as the stereotypical dense blonde himbo, a gender swap of how some women have been presented in film for far too long. He plays the cliché but infuses it with just enough humanity that his plight feels relevant. His character then succumbs to the societal norms of the real world and brings those behaviors back to Barbieland. That change feels organic in Goslings hand, fuelling the narrative well and when he has his 11th hour admission to Barbie of how he’s feeling, it comes off as genuine, precisely what Gerwig intended.

America Ferrera plays a mother in the real world whose daughter (Ariana Greenblatt) has outgrown the girly aspects of childhood and become a teenager raging on society’s injustices to women. She gets all of the best lines, notably the various comparative analyses that help ground and define Gerwig’s vision for the story, an admonition of the status quo. Ferrera makes it all work with beautifully. Rhea Perlman is given a small part in the film, but she makes the most of it playing the ghost of the Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler. Much like Judd Hirsch in The Fabelmans, Perlman brings years of experience and inestimable talent to bear on a little, but significant role. Here, it’s the voice of encouragement to Barbie as she faces tough and seemingly insurmountable odds. She’s a one-woman show who deserves accolades for what she brings to the film. Lastly is Helen Mirren who provides the narration for the film. Her vocal gravitas adds depth and a knowing wink to her copious over-arching dialogue, but none is so perfectly delivered than her rebuke to Gerwig and Baumbach. It’s a fourth-wall breaking reproach to Barbie saying she no longer feels pretty, saying “Note to the filmmakers: Margot Robbie is the wrong person to cast if you want to make this point.” It’s a delicious moment delivered perfectly in a sea of terrific presentations.

Four features in (one being a co-directing gig with Baumbach), director Gerwig has more than proven herself as one of this generation’s defining voices. While not as towering an achievement as Little Women, Barbie allows her to take feminist topics and turn them into perceptive, genre-defining crowd-pleasers. She understands how to balance education, entertainment, and empathy. It’s a rare combination that few filmmakers can achieve and, alongside the likes of Jordan Peele and Emerald Fennell, it’s certainly a great time to be a cineaste.

Barbie might have seemed like the perfect opportunity to take Mattel’s biggest moneymaker and develop a range of blockbuster features targeted at young women. In their infinite wisdom, they picked up Gerwig and gave her the opportunity to spread her wings and fly in what could well be considered a countercultural phenomenon. Digging into cinema’s history with the fascinating opening sequence, cut to match that of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Gerwig’s cinematic literacy continues throughout the picture, adapting others’ techniques for her own uses and weaving something uniquely from them.

Barbie does exactly what the doll itself was intended to do. It acts as a beacon to young women telling them that they can achieve greatness and be anything they want even in a patriarchal landscape where men control the levers of power. It’s the kind of film that can both build a moment and redefine one. This is genuinely a great time for women’s rights and films like this prove that such topics can and will be evocatively evinced in all areas where men have for so long dominated the medium.

Oscar Prospects

Guarantees: Picture, Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling), Adapted Screenplay, Original Song (“What Was I Made For?”), Production Design, Costume Design
Probables: Actress (Margot Robbie), Original Score, Film Editing, Cinematography
Potentials: Directing, Supporting Actress (America Ferrera, Rhea Perlman), Original Song (others), Sound
Unlikelies: Visual Effects

Review Written

November 28, 2023