Barbie (2023)

Prime Time will be here on the blog tomorrow. This felt like it should be scheduled immediately after my Oppenheimer review.

"If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you." That was the tagline being used in some of the advanced marketing for Barbie, a pink-drenched film based around a crisis for the titular doll. The people who came up with that slogan seem to have underestimated the extreme emotions that the film would create in film snobs who seem to be viewing this as a harbinger of the death of cinema. It was always going to be hilariously upsetting to viewers with fragile male egos, but I didn't expect to see such "righteous anger" from people who seem to think that Barbie is the blockbuster to take to task for marrying product placement to a central narrative. It's almost as if these people missed, well . . . *gestures to every other mainstream release from the past four decades*. Look, films sell other products. Arguably more than any other art form, they focus on the business in show business. And, yes, something like Barbie is more inextricably intertwined with a product that represents disposability and capitalism than most, but it's also very smart, very funny, and very much made for audiences who have already helped to turn it into such a special event (with a very positive knock-on effect for Oppenheimer that shouldn't be under-estimated).

Margot Robbie plays Barbie, living a very happy life in Barbie-land alongside a multitude of other Barbies, as well as a multitude of Kens (with the main Ken played by Ryan Gosling), and one Allan (Michael Cera). Oh, and Midge (remember Midge? she's played here by Emerald Fennell). Every day is wonderful, with the Barbies all happy to have done their part in helping to please and inspire women in the real world, doing their bit to dismantle the patriarchy and ensure equality for all. Yeah, you might have noticed something there that doesn't quite add up. We all know the reality of the world we live in, and it's far removed from how Barbie imagines our world. As things start to go awry for Barbie (her feet go flat, she starts to get cellulite), she is told that the only way to get everything back to the way it was is to visit the real world and help her "owner" to rediscover some positivity. Barbie, with Ken tagging along, commits to this journey, and she eventually meets Gloria (America Ferrera) and her daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt). She also meets sexism, capitalism, and a patriarchy that she thought she'd helped to end. It's not good for the women. Ken sees the upside of it all though.

Directed by Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the screenplay with her partner, Noah Baumbach, Barbie is an absolute delight from start to finish. It's the first film I have seen in the cinema in many years that ended with people giving it a round of applause. Not everyone will respond that way, of course, but even those who notice a few mis-steps should be able to view it as a resounding success. What could have been an easygoing and lightweight confection is instead a smart blend of celebration and condemnation of the figure at the heart of it. It's also just as much about Ken as it is about Barbie, and Ryan Gosling unexpectedly emerges as the real star of the show (his big musical number is one of the most enjoyable sequences I have watched in modern cinema, period). Gerwig sets up the characters and the rules quickly enough, helping herself with some witty and knowing narration from Helen Mirren, and the escalation of the surreal silliness feels very natural once you have accepted everything presented in the opening act.

It also helps that the cast are all fantastic, all feeling like a great fit for their roles, and all very much game to go with the camp and kitsch of the crowd-pleasing set-pieces. I could spend hours writing about Robbie and Gosling, but I would much prefer you to see the film and enjoy every little character detail that they include in their performances. Simu Liu is a lot of fun, playing a Ken who always seems to be ready to have beef with our lead Ken, and Cera gets to effortlessly steal a couple of scenes, even while he's just watching the main action from the sidelines. Kate McKinnon is another highlight, playing "weird" Barbie, and there are fun turns from Issa Rae, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, and others (including some fun cameos). As for the actual human characters, both Ferrera and Greenblatt are easy to root for, with the former allowed to deliver a barnstorming motivational speech that proves pivotal to the third act, Will Ferrell is a despairing Mattel CEO, and Rhea Perlman delights as Ruth (you should know who she is, but the film clues you in quickly enough).

With Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt taking care of the music, crafting a soundscape full of appropriately upbeat score and great pop songs, as well as those unforgettable Gosling moments, and everyone behind the camera doing flawless work when it comes to set decoration, makeup, costume design, and other artistic choices, there isn't much to be critical of. The only weaknesses are couched in the script, with an unnecessary chase sequence feeling a bit out of place and scenes featuring Mattel executives not quite landing the jokes as well as expected, but the good far outweighs the bad, and it's much easier to celebrate everything that Gerwig managed to slip into a mainstream blockbuster than it is to pick at the minor blemishes.

"If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you." If you cannot get a chip off your shoulder, or feel that your masculinity is threatened by such a deluge of pink . . . well, maybe this movie isn't for you. But feel free to let the rest of us enjoy it without having to sneer and dismiss it, especially if you haven't actually seen the thing.

9/10

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