BARBIE Review
“Should appeal as much (or maybe even more) to older women than the movie’s presumed younger target audience”
I have to admit well in advance that I went in to watch Barbie with a ton of trepidation and very little actual interest. Granted, I’ve been familiar with the work of filmmaker Greta Gerwig and her co-writer/husband Noah Baumbach for a very long time, though I’ve found some of their collaborations over the years to be hit or miss with nothing quite nearly as high-profile as this movie based on Mattel’s hugely popular dolls, for which I have never been interested.
Margot Robbie plays Barbie, but she isn’t the only Barbie in Barbie Land, because there are thousands. She’s just the “stereotypical” blonde Barbie most are familiar with, and her life is just about perfect, even if every day is exactly the same. One night, at her regular Girls Night party held at her Malibu Dream House, Barbie finds herself thinking about death, and that starts a series of existential crises that has her turning to “Weird Barbie” (Kate McKinnon) for help. Soon, she’s off to the real world to find the girl to whom she belongs, with the lovelorn Ken (Ryan Gosling) stowing away in her suitably pink car. Once they get to the real world, their presence comes to the attention of the CEO of Mattel, played by Will Ferrell, as a suitably comic buffoon. There’s also a side story involving a Mattel employee, played by America Ferrera, with her daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), that becomes quite key to Barbie’s journey as well.
To say much more about the plot and what happens in the real world and back in Barbie Land with the hundreds of diverse Barbies and Kens would probably go too far into spoiler territory for anyone wanting to enjoy the movie for themselves. There’s so much about Barbie that I was amazed that Gerwig (and her co-writer Baumbach) were able to get away with, not only depicting the CEO of Mattel like a complete idiot, knowing that the real CEO would probably have to approve that decision. Granted, it’s all done for humor, and Ferrell (like McKinnon) are the comedy ringers that truly helps Gerwig pull off the humorous aspects of Barbie.
Robbie gives another fine performance – her Barbie is not just the smiles and waves and fashion some might expect – and yet, it’s Ferrera who really blew me away in this one, particularly during one of her soliloquies about what it’s like being a middle-aged woman and mother in the real world. Everyone is already loving all over Gosling as Ken, since the role allows him to really ham it up and even have a few fun musical moments. McKinnon is very good, maybe at her best, with other standouts being Simu Liu (a bit of healthy Ken-competition for Gosling), as well as Michael Cera as Allen, another outcast in Barbie Land, surrounded by Kens. There’s also a small but wonderful role for Rhea Perlman, which would be a shame to spoil.
In many ways, it’s hard not to make comparisons to The LEGO Movie, since Barbie also finds its humor in playing with the tropes of the toys and how they’re perceived in the outside world. Barbie touches upon how modern-day women find the way the dolls are depicted as counter-productive in creating positive role models for girls. I do want to note that those who took issue with the Skittles jokes in Shazam! Fury of the Gods should do the same with the fact that Barbie is a walking and talking feature-length advertisement for the Mattel dolls, and it knows it… And it pokes fun at that, too. Maybe the humor isn’t always as on target as with The Lego Movie, as spearheaded by Lord and Miller, but it certainly find a way to kick even the biggest curmudgeon like myself out of their doubts that a movie about Barbie could work better than… say, a movie about any other dolls.
Ultimately, there was so much about Barbie that impressed me beyond the wry and sometimes even snarky screenplay, particularly the visual aspect of the team Gerwig brought together, most notably the production design by Sarah Greenwood and costumes by Jacqueline Durran, who both should be in the Oscar mix at the forefront of the movie’s crafts. I probably wasn’t as big a fan of the musical choices, at least as far as the songs, though maybe they’ll grow on me, eventually, too.
I can definitely see Barbie being quite divisive. It certainly took me some time to come around to what Gerwig was doing here, but all-in-all, it’s a fine, fun romp with lots of thought-provoking aspects that should allow it to appeal as much (or maybe even more) to older women than the movie’s presumed younger target audience.
Rating: 7/10
Barbie opens nationwide on Friday, July 21 with previews on Thursday night.