‘Humans have only one ending. Ideas live forever...’
Helped out by a marketing campaign that will be studied and imitated for years to come, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has been a critical and commercial smash. When we look back on July 2023, it will forever be known as the month in which the world turned pink (and was then blown up – Barbie will now be intrinsically linked to Oppenheimer forever). An unfortunate outcome of this film’s success is the discourse surrounding it. Is the film anti-men? Is it feminist propaganda? Is it a cynical ploy to sell more dolls and make more money? All of this misses the point. As with every film, the only question that really matters is – is it any good? On that metric, Barbie is a raging success…
Everything is perfect for ‘stereotypical’ Barbie (Margot Robbie). She lives in her dream house. She can fly. She is surrounded by adoring Kens (most notably Ryan Gosling). Every day is exciting. One day, however, Barbie starts to think about death and this triggers an existential crisis that leads to her entering the real world. Upon arrival, she discovers that the real world is very different to the one that she usually inhabits.
Following Gerwig’s masterful adaptation of Little Women, I went into Barbie expecting something that was at least interesting. What I didn’t expect was the funniest comedy I’ve seen in years. Taking its cues from The Lego Movie and that film’s ingenious use of world-building, Barbie is clever, defiant and entertaining to the last. Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach somehow manage to address the concept of the patriarchy head-on without it becoming preachy or condescending and while some of it may feel like low-hanging fruit for those of us that are perenially online, it’s important to note that many viewers of Barbie will be young girls being presented with these ideas for the first time. And that is a wonderful thing.
In terms of the cast, Margot Robbie is no longer an actress. She is a bona fide movie star -in an age when such a commodity is hard to come by. She is perfect here. As with her performance as Harley Quinn, it is now impossible to imagine anyone else in the role (even as many other Barbies do a sterling job within this very film – particularly Kate McKinnon as ‘weird’ Barbie). Elsewhere, Gosling has the time of his life in a role that allows him to spread his wings a little and showcase his considerable comedic chops and Will Ferrell has some of the film’s best lines as the unnamed Mattel Ceo. The film is packed full of references to the real-life tangled web that is the Barbie universe and while much of it went over my head, longtime fans will find plenty here to enjoy.
The best way to enjoy Barbie is to watch Oppenheimer first, have five pints and then go see Barbie as I did. Failing that, forget the discourse and just enjoy this film for what it is. An imaginative and rip-roaring comedy.