Review of Barbie (2023) by Stream2Bigscree — 21 Jul 2023

Welcome back, Streamers! The most anticipated movie weekend of 2023 is here. It's Barbenheimer. If you haven't followed it, there's this ridiculous internet debate over which film will reign supreme between Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer...

In this corner, coming in at 11.5 inches, it's the iconic, blonde fashion doll, Barbie.

Barbie is the first live-action film about the American icon and her place in culture. Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach wrote a screenplay, which Gerwig directs, that takes audiences into Barbieland, where we meet stereotypical Barbie (Marot Robbie) and her fellow Barbies living their perfect existences until one day stereotypical Barbie starts to think constantly about death, her feet become flat and other things are off. Barbie has to make a trek to the real world to find out why things have changed for her and to set them straight. Barbie is accompanied by Ken (Ryan Gosling), whose existence is so dependent upon Barbie that he only has a good day if Barbie looks at him. Rollerblading, hot pink singing and dancing hijinks ensue.

Overall, Barbie is a weird and wonderful movie. It is clear that a lot of thought and money went into creating this story and world inhabited by Barbie. You will be awed by the clever production design and the intense attention to detail that went into constructing Barbieland. The colors pop. There are cute animated touches throughout. Additionally, the costume design enhances each Barbie and Ken in interesting ways. You'll also notice the music throughout the film is sometimes poignant and sometimes hilarious, especially when it involves the Kens. From top to bottom, the crafts in this movie are top notch and worthy of a trip to the big screen.

The cast, especially Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, are excellent. Robbie brings sensitivity and heart to Barbie. She's thoughtful and kind while also being naive and troubled by her own existence. It is a tricky performance to pull off and Robbie is great. Ken is an iconic performance for Gosling. He pulls out all of the stops to bring Ken to life. I can't imagine another actor being as successful in this role. Gosling is a really gifted comedic actor as evidenced by this performance. I'll also note that Kate McKinnon, American Ferrar, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Michael Cera and Issa Rae each have good moments as well. It's a big cast, but some of the smaller roles do get chances to shine.

The main issue is that the messaging is so heavy-handed. There is a lot to unpack about Barbie's place in society. What does she represent to women and girls? What does she represent to men? There are themes of feminism, patriarchy, and corporate greed. The film does its best to address its issues in a clever and subversive way, but it veers into becoming patronizing at times rather than funny and satirical. The performances of the actors really carry the film across the finish line despite how it handles its themes.

Ultimately, Barbie is a movie worthy of a trip to the theater. It is funny and even clever at times. The messaging of the movie gets heavy-handed and some of the subversive fun is lost in those moments. Nevertheless, Gosling and Robbie fully commit to their characters as does the large ensemble; and the production design and music are top notch. You won't be disappointed with a big box of popcorn. You decide if you want to wear hot pink like everyone else.