Barbie: The Off-Balance Review.
Pink! Plastic! Fantastic!
I wasn’t expecting Barbie to open with an extended riff on 2001: A Space Odyssey but when it did, I laughed so hard, I nearly choked on my popcorn.
And that’s on me: what did I expect from Barbie?
The “Barb” in the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon that has captivated movie-goers over the past month, it is a movie not afraid to poke fun at the inherent absurdity baked into a premise, that yes, features a protagonist adapted from a toy line (both Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer released on the same day and have received a massive zeitgeist push thanks to wide-reaching social media campaigns).
And while, at times, it veers into predictability and perhaps hits far too many easy beats in regards to its storytelling, it is a movie of heartfelt honesty, timely social commentary and incredible artistic vision.
Barbie (Margot Robbie) has no complaints.
Everything in Barbieland, the pink and plastic utopia which she calls home, is running smoothly.
While the various Kens (Ryan Gosling, Simu Lu, Kingsley Ben-Adir) spend their days at the beach, vapidly comparing their impeccable abs, the Barbies, in contrast, are in GSD mode (Gettin’ Shit Done).
They are the entire workforce (the all-female Supreme Court, most notably, is overseen by Issa Rae’s President Barbie), independent homeowners and every night is girl’s night, with coordinated song-and-dance.
But when Barbie finds herself overcome with existential worry, local-outcast “Weird Barbie” (Kate McKinnon, up to her usual shtick) instructs her to travel to the real world where Barbie must find whoever is playing with her and therefore, causing her to feel so much angst.
Which Barbie does, heading off to Los Angeles and reluctantly taking Gosling’s Ken along, where misadventure ensues.
The most unique set-up? No, but it works well enough, especially once the story at large begins to find its legs.
While its sibling-movie in Oppenheimer, cuts between various storylines and filmmaking styles, Barbie never feels like it is overextending its reach or trying to be something it isn’t.
Director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women) who co-wrote with Noah Baumbach, deftly builds a narrative that isn’t afraid to tackle modern womanhood, misogynist corporate culture and toxic masculinity, even while lobbing the occasional criticism at Barbie herself, sometimes all at once: the all-male leadership at Mattel, the toy company that created Barbie and Ken, for example, are hilariously portrayed as bumbling, sexist idiots.
But much of the movie’s overall success is thanks to Robbie and Gosling who do tremendous work to bring their characters to life.
Initially believing that her trip to the real world will be a short one, Barbie comes to realize, with the help of a mother-daughter duo (America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt, in equally strong performances) that being a woman in the modern world isn’t as straightforward as she believed it to be.
Whether that means being grossly ogled, catcalled and sexually harassed by passerby, put-down by virtue of simply not being a man or dealt a hand of impossible-to-live-up-to societal expectations.
And Robbie, as usual, balances it all skillfully.
In her past films, especially during her various outings as comic book anti-hero Harley Quinn, she’s proven herself a naturally gifted comedic performer, something she makes sure to flex to great effect here.
But it is as her Barbie evolves, learning to navigate a world not her own - with all the highs, lows and crushing disappointments that come with it - that Robbie truly shines.
Gosling too, is impressive. Ken’s time in Los Angeles introduces him to the system of patriarchy and he is driven to bring the concept home and unleash his particular brand of “Kenergy” (yes, I’m serious) on the residents of Barbieland.
He is, in essence, the closet thing the movie has to a proper villain and yet, Gosling still manages to strike a note of genuine honesty. His Ken, often coming off as an angry teenage boy who has cut himself shaving for the first time, as he struggles to establish a true sense of individualism beyond what is printed on the back of his box. Gosling gives it his all, portraying a character that is as amusing as he is purposely bullheaded and frustrating.
And although we don’t spend much time there, Barbieland itself is a masterclass in world-building, costuming and set design, an imaginative place of fantasy that evokes the physical play sets of the source material - from Barbie’s car to her Dreamhouse, where everything is just a touch too small and awash in pink and pastel.
My biggest gripe with Barbie though, relatively minor though it is, is with the storytelling. It is, simply, far too predictable.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing (it isn’t a movie that should have or require, an elaborate sense of plotting) but too early into what is a two-hour experience, I found myself putting the larger pieces together, giving the bigger moments and reveals a “yeah, I could see that coming” feeling.
Which has also seemed to translate into our real-world. Anticipation of the inevitable.
Barbie has already, made well over a billion dollars.
Hollywood at large is in flux right now, by way of the ongoing writer/actor’s strike but the announcement of a sequel, a franchise-to-be, seems like a matter of if, not when.
Meanwhile, Mattel, like any corporation would be, seems eager to capitalize on the film’s resounding success, launching preorders for film-inspired Barbies that won’t hit shelves until next spring.
Maybe though, in the grand scheme of things, none of that matters all too much.
While Barbie somewhat existed in my orbit many years ago (I have a younger sister) it was never something I played with, gave much thought too or really cared for.
I went to Barbie with my Mom.
For every deep-cut reference (from the discontinued dolls that populate Barbieland, to Michael Cera’s Allan or Erica Ford’s Skipper) she would shout out in excitement, eagerly turning to me to whisper backstory.
For every acknowledgement of the trials that come with womanhood, she would quietly nod along in agreement, her own personal experience, something that was touched upon that deeply.
As a man, naturally, I can’t speak to any that personally of course, but Barbie is a movie so much more than just a marketing plug for Mattel. I mean, yes, it ultimately can’t escape that function, try as it might. But it also speaks profoundly on self-respect and to the empowerment that comes with being a woman in a challenging modern world, which too often it seems, is intent on taking that autonomy away.
As Mom likes to say, sometimes the best you can do, is to find joy in the little things.
Like going to the movies.
