Barbie (2023)

“BARBIE! BARBIE!”

“When I say ‘Bar’, you say ‘Bie’! Bar-Bie’”

-actual young teen boys at my screening.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a non superhero film with this kind of audience. Needless to say, even my buddy Donovan, one of the best “man’s man”* I know, was giddy over this film.

The very plot of Barbie is a bit fish out of water meets The Wizard of Oz meets Pee Wee’s Big Adventure meets too many others to list, as a stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) spends her day doing the same thing, until one day she has an existential crisis, thinking about death. After the help from a weird Barbie (Kate Mckinnon), Barbie is told to leave Barbie Land and into the real world. She is joined by her boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling).

While Barbie and Oppenheimer are competing at the Box Office, they are also competing for trophy of biggest cast size (for there are many different versions of Barbie and Ken). I won’t list all of the variations, but they do include Issa Rae, Alexandra Shipp, Simu Liu, and Kingsley Ben-Adir. Others in the cast include Michael Cera, Helen Mirren, America Ferrera, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell.

Of course, there is more than just the plot to director Greta Gerwig’s film (who wrote the film with her partner Noah Baumbach). As was the case in her other two films Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), she injects some of her own feelings of femininity and identity, only more so here.

On Wiki, I discovered this film was in development further back than I thought. It seems odd to think of other actresses other than Margot Robbie as the star of this film (apparently the first actresses approached were Amy Schumer and Anne Hathaway, talented in their own ways for sure). Still, if anyone else was in the titular role, we would all think the same thing: Why didn’t they cast Margot Robbie? Not only is she clearly talented and beautiful, but she looks like Barbie!

Not to go unnoticed (so to speak) is Gosling as the main Ken of the film. Another clearly talented movie star, it is not hard at all to see how dedicated he is to the role. Some of what he is saying is borderline ludicrous at times, but we buy every word. He and Robbie should get awards consideration.

Parents, the film is marketed as being for people who love Barbie and for those who hate it. There is no mention of the jokes in the film, which are more than likely to go over the head of most kids under the age of a middle schooler. There is no sexual content or anything shown, but some bits hinted at (not to mention Barbie and Ken sharing that they have no genitalia). The swearing is no worse here than it would be in a middle school.

Looking at the current hype of Barbenheimer, it is is remarkable to see how many things the two films share: Ginormous casts, a main character with personal struggles (as well as with their place in the world), high profile directors at the helm, and films that should definitely be seen in a theater with a large audience.

While the second part of Barbenheimer is a better film, this one clearly has two things the other lacks entirely: Pink, and one of the most memorable/off the cuff last lines of a film I have seen in recent memory.

*Note: When I mentioned to my buddy Donovan that I would refer to him as a “man’s man”, he replied that he would rather be called referred to as being Kenough.

Overall: