Barbie: Fun 10, Story 5

 

 

 

Barbie (2023)

Directed by Greta Gerwig

Warner Brothers, 114 minutes, PG-13

★★★

 

If you told me on January 1 of last year that I would watch a film about the doll Barbie, I would have suggested you check yourself into rehab. But, as almost everyone on the planet knows, Barbie the movie actually happened. It had a big budget–more than $125 million–but Greta Gerwig as director and cowriter (with Noah Baumbach) made a film that has raked in $1.4 billion and counting.

 

How to review such a cultural powerhouse? I know practically nothing about Barbie beyond what I saw in TV ads that interrupted my boyhood Saturday morning cartoons. In my generation, any boy with a Barbie invited ostracism and even those with a G.I. Joe were suspect. No apologies or regrets, it’s simply the way it was. Thus, I am not qualified to say what Barbie dolls meant or did not mean to little girls of my era or to the women they are now.

 

I can comment on Barbie as a piece of filmmaking. The set designs of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer are fabulous. They took inspiration from the mid-century modernism of Palm Springs and built a Barbie fantasy land bathed in pink with aqua accents. The sets tiptoe the line between toy world and the sort of sharp lines-meet-garish colors often associated with 1950s architecture.

 Equally impressive were the costumes from Jacqueline Durran and the hair/makeup efforts of Ivana Primorac. I have no idea how many Oscar nominations Barbie will garner, but I’d not be surprised to see it sweep all things production and style related. (I hope that doesn’t happen with music, much of which I found annoying. Then again, it’s not the sort of thing you’ll find on my playlists.)

 

A surprising admission: I found Barbie fun to watch. Its two leads­–Margot Robbie as Stereotypical Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Beach Ken–were well cast and clearly enjoyed chewing up the scenery. Robbie was especially an inspired choice. At one point in the movie she is so depressed that she feels “ugly.” We hear Helen Mirren’s snarky voiceover telling Mattel that if they want someone to look ugly, “don’t cast Margot Robbie.” That’s for sure! She’s simply stunning physically, but also throws herself into her role and isn’t afraid of self-deprecating humor. (Ditto for a buffed up Ryan Gosling, who apparently can sing.)

 

Here's the rub. It’s simultaneously a satire, an extended commercial for Mattel, and has a storyline that is too often cloying. After we revel in Barbieland–where every female not named Skipper is a “Barbie” from Mattel’s evolving product line (Black Barbies, professional Barbies, plus-sized Barbie)–the movie confronts the need to impose a story of some sort.

 

Some sort indeed. All the males are named Ken, except for the dumped product Allan (Michael Cera), and most are in love with Stereotypical Barbie, especially Beach Ken and Tourist Ken (Simu Liu). It’s futile, of course, because every day is exactly the same in Barbieland and nobody has genitals. (There are some funny, if cheap jokes about that.) But when Stereotypical Barbie asks if anyone ever thinks about “death,” it’s an indication that there is a rip in the barrier between Barbieland and the real world that Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) insists must be fixed.

 

Robbie and Gosling set off to the real world, a shocking and awkward encounter that will involve going to Mattel headquarters in Los Angeles, where CEO Will Ferrell and his all-male board are horrified to see Barbie. This sets off a heavy-handed caper/chase film that covers terrain such as Ken’s discovery of patriarchy, a tween who hates Barbie (Ariana Greenblatt), her mother who doesn’t (America Ferrera), philosophy lite, meeting Barbie’s creator (Rhea Perlman), major trouble in Barbieland–rebranded as Kenland–a showdown between Kens, dealing with the rupture, Barbie’s Pinocchio-like desires, and a hysterical ending line. It sort of/kind of works, but it’s also undeniably hackneyed.

 

To its credit, Barbie raises themes and questions about patriarchy, femininity, feminism, materialism, mortality, the meaning of beauty, and a few other things. But don’t worry; like Barbie dolls it’s more gloss than substance. This is in part because Mattel Films was involved in the production. Mattel deserves credit for poking fun at itself, but like all things in the movie, it’s a gentle jibe designed to help its bottom line.

 

Rob Weir