Barbie
WARNER BROSThis piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a monumental achievement. A cinematic event unlike any other. Pairing it with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer will, however, be a cardinal mistake, as one leaves Barbie feeling more than uplifted, grinning ear-to-ear, wanting to think about what was on screen, and savor the thrilling, once-in-a-generation comedy that will be remembered for decades to come. Of course, the Barbenheimer double feature is one of the biggest cultural movements of the year, but it’s still not a good idea. Watch one. Go to bed. Watch the other. Barbie is a whole lot of movie. It starts with a riff on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey –– with the iconic match cut replaced by a doll cutting to the title card –– and then morphs into the glossy world of Barbieland, where audiences are introduced to Barbie (Margot Robbie), who lives a perfect life in a perfect world with lots of other Barbies (Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kayne, Dua Lipa, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya and Marisa Abela) and Kens (Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa, Rob Brydon and John Cena) populating the land. However, only one Ken (Ryan Gosling) adores the real Barbie with all of his heart and will stop at nothing to win her over.
During Barbie’s big blowout party, the celebration stops as she suddenly thinks about what it means to live and perceives, for the first time, her ageing body leading her to death. Not knowing what’s happening with her free spirit, she visits Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), who tells her that a child feeds those thoughts into Barbie by playing with her doll. She must now go to the real world with Ken to find the child, but that leads to an altercation with the CEO of Mattel (Will Ferrell), which could have drastic consequences for the future of Barbieland. Revealing more would mean spoiling the movie's meat, which has been hidden through its trailers and TV spots. Gerwig’s version of Barbie goes far deeper than what the Mattel dolls presented and brilliantly uses Barbieland as a front to deconstruct the real world’s patriarchal hierarchy and is unafraid to call men out for being who they are. Writing this review as a man might sound hypocritical, but it’s true. Most, if not all, powerful men abuse their power, making it increasingly difficult for women to advance in a society that keeps regressing. Gerwig and her co-writer/partner Noah Baumbach discuss this element by contrasting Barbieland with the Real World.
An event will cause Barbieland to become a regressive society, and Barbie now must restore what that world once was. Such a movie that deftly explores intersectionality and isn’t afraid to dive deep into social issues could sound dense. However, Gerwig gets her message across through its brilliantly-written and side-splitting humour, though small kids should probably stay away from this one. It’s not particularly inappropriate, but its target audience feels more in line with older teens than small kids who watched the G-rated direct-to-video Barbie animated films, the most harmless pieces of content made solely to distract babies in front of a television. Gerwig’s version of Barbie isn’t that, and it’s partly why the movie is such a joy to watch with a crowd who get every inside joke she inserts in the movie and strong themes that resonate with an older audience, but not necessarily a younger (and certainly not a baby) crowd.
It’s too early to discuss Oscar chances, but Robbie and Gosling are practically perfect as the lead versions of Barbie and Ken. Gosling’s portrayal of Ken is the best performance he’s given since Detective K in Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner: 2049 and is perhaps the role he was born to play. His charisma is unmatched, but he takes it to another level here and beautifully embraces the character’s absurdity and self-aware nature. He is also a gifted physical comic, but audiences who saw Shane Black’s The Nice Guys already knew that. Robbie was also born to play Barbie, as if her previous roles led to this moment. Those who saw her in Damien Chazelle’s Babylon or James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad know how great of a comedic actor she can be, but she takes it to a territory she has never explored before and delivers a masterclass of a turn. Embodying everything Barbie stands for and more, as Robbie’s career has been filled with iconic performances, but this will be the role she will be the most remembered for. Barbie also contains the best ensemble of the year (with Oppenheimer, which is crazy to think these movies came out on the same day), and each performer has their time to shine, no matter how big or small their role is. Michael Cera is a notable highlight as Allan, stealing every scene he’s in. Kingsley Ben-Adir, Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa, and Simu Liu are also highly entertaining as alternate versions of Ken. On the Barbie side, Emma Mackey, Alexandra Shipp, and Hari Nef are major highlights in their respective doll versions.
Artistically, Barbie is one of the most staggering productions of the year. Rodrigo Prieto’s cinematography brilliantly captures the plasticity of Barbieland and its contrast to the real world, whilst Production Designer Sarah Greenwood makes its main world feel lived in and familiar. It’s incredible how Gerwig secured Scorsese’s Director of Photography and a six-time Academy Award-nominated Production Designer for what some critics could dub an “IP-driven movie.” But it feels more than the usual soulless content, especially with how the art department represents Barbieland through its plastic beaches, pink slides, and dream houses.
There are many callbacks to classic cinema, with Jacques Tati being the most notable influence, but a final scene also harkens back to Rebel Without a Cause (also referenced in La La Land, co-starring Gosling), with the ending being more lyrical in its visual storytelling. It blends old-school techniques with auteur-driven inspirations perfectly and never feels cheap or egregious. In a world where most of the movies coming out nowadays cost over $200 million to make and still have terrible CGI and green-screen-laden environments with absolutely no soul or artistic vision put into the mix, it’s great to see something like Barbie, with every aspect of its environment comes alive. The director’s imprint shines in front and behind the camera. Every frame, set, and piece of fabric in Barbie is an absolute thrill to watch on the big screen and deserves to be experienced by a crowd who loves audacious pieces of cinema like this one. But it’s not for kids, and perhaps not even for younger teens. Maybe sixteen and up would be the most appropriate age to go watch Barbie. It’s weird to say this because Barbie has always been associated with small children. However, its broad cinematic language, thoughtful and poignant sociopolitical themes, and philosophical meditations on ageing and death don’t seem like something a small child will enjoy. Plus, it isn’t afraid to throw in a swear word or two, which no other filmmaker would do. It’s incredible how raw and unapologetic Gerwig’s humour is, and it’s even more impressive that Warner Bros. would ever greenlight a mature and boundary-pushing version of Barbie that no one else could’ve made but the brilliant and ever-creative mind of Greta Gerwig. Now, when will studios finally greenlight horror movies with the Teletubbies and Barney? Time to flip child icons to their heads.