Barbie

Movie Name: Barbie
Year of Release: 2023
Director: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, America Ferrera, Michael Cera, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Rhea Perlman, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Issa Rae, Simu Liu, Hari Nef, Sharon Rooney, Ritu Arya, Ana Cruz Kayne, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Helen Mirren, Jamie Demetriou, Will Merrick, Andrew Leung, Lucy Boynton, Rob Brydon
Genre: Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
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Synopsis and Review

After the phenomenal "Lady Bird", and the unnecessary adaptation of "Little Women" (which was watchable, but didn't necessarily add anything to Gillian Armstrong's 1994 version or even the previous adaptations), writer/producer/director Greta Gerwig is back with what has turned out to be the big sensation of the film world in 2023. The narrative focuses of course on Barbie, the stereotypical one, who alongside other Barbies live in Barbieland, a matriarchal society populated with different variations of Barbies, Kens and also discarded (and somewhat ostracized) Barbies. Ken is constantly trying to ingratiate himself with Barbie, who refutes his advances. Barbie's days are fairly repetitive, until one morning everything starts taking a dark turn. She worries about death, develops bad breath, has concerns over cellulite, and doesn't even walk on her toes. She resorts to Weird Barbie to figure out what's going on with her. She tells her she must go go the real world, and find the child playing with her in order to lift whatever is plaguing her. Ken stows away and decides to go with her. When they both arrive in the real world, they have some issues adjusting, but eventually Barbie uncovers Gloria and Sasha, a mother and daughter, who are behind her existential pains. Mattel executives in the meantime are trying to locate Barbie in order to send her back, and Ken has uncovered that patriarchy seems to suit him just fine, and goes back to Barbieland to explain those theories to other Kens. Barbie decides to bring Gloria and Sasha back to Barbieland, in order to explain why Barbies and their principles stand for something, only to realize the place has changed quite a bit.

What's been interesting about Greta Gerwig's films thus far, and even her most interesting acting performances, have been the fact that they focus on women who aren't afraid of finding their own voice, of speaking their own mind, even if that instantly renders them as "difficult" or "different". This unapologetic aspect of "Lady Bird" and even "Little Women" made those films so watchable, as did her ability to give her characters dimension: her heroines weren't simply a teenager vying to leave Sacramento with the ambition of becoming an artist, or a young woman rebelling against a typically male centric profession in the 19th century, they were also people coming to terms with who they were (growing up after all). "Barbie" tries a similar approach, in a pink colored hue, with a stylized and quasi musical stance to it, but for all the cacophony of color and visual stylings, it's a film that never feels jolted with a spark of vivacity and humor as much as her prior features did. The film plays with its own artificiality, almost like winking an eye at what's taking place and addressing the audience on the joke ("Yes, this is all pink and silly, don't you know?") and with Ryan Gosling's silliness ("Oh Ken"), but simultaneously tries to deliver important messages that while well intended and very pertinent, simply don't align with the rhythm of the film itself. For a film that calls itself a comedy, I personally found very little to be comical, and some aspects of the film seem to be battling itself out (the whole aspect of the Mattel executives, with the underserved Will Ferrell in particular, was difficult to witness). Even Margot Robbie who is a fantastic actress, seems a bit lost in this world, and I kept expecting her to drop the facade at some point and tell the audience "What's up everyone, it's me Tonya or Harley Quinn or Sharon Tate": this role needed more of the whimsicality, goofiness and airiness that Anna Faris brought to "The House Bunny", which in a way, ends up treading on similar topics, but with far more humor than this film (and yes, I am aware that "The House Bunny" also treads on sensitive topics and is directed from a male driven perspective). It ultimately feels that the filmmakers knew this was going to be a difficult topic to tackle, which could go in many directions (and people could pick on it for a series of reasons), and for the most part the directions were indeed showcased. They just weren't very funny.