The hype, as they say, has been huge. But one of the most anticipated new movies of the year is here, and we all know the name of the other one. As a double bill, Barbie and Oppenheimer make an odd pairing — except for one thing. They both represent a high watermark for Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan, directors with already formidable track records.
There the similarity pretty much ends, with Gerwig using the iconic doll as the main weapon in her colorful, lively comedy/satire, one that has feminism and corporate culture in its sights. All high heels, immaculate makeup, and bouffant hair, Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) — there are currently 176 variations — has an idyllic life in Barbieland.
Every day is perfect — sublime, even — spent with all the other Barbies at parties and having fun on the beach. She's also the object of Ken’s (Ryan Gosling) affection, but he doesn’t stand much of a chance: not only is she impervious to his advances, but he’s competing against a whole lot of other Kens.
Things start to change for Barbie when she develops strange, unfamiliar feelings and has to travel to the real world to put them right, with Ken hitching a ride on the back seat of her suitably pink car. The ups and downs of living with actual people have radically different effects on them, and cracks show in everything Barbie holds dear.
Starting and ending on a high — an outstanding parody of the opening sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Barbie arriving for an appointment with a doctor who tends to specialize in female conditions — the film is unapologetic and unafraid in its savvy observations about both women and men. Nor does is it short on reminders that the characters in Barbieland are all dolls, missing some attributes that real people would regard as essential.
Although it doesn’t hit all its many targets every single time, its aim is usually true, sharp and frequently funny. Even though she trips herself up occasionally, Gerwig is still a supremely confident pair of hands, relishing the challenge of taking a universal brand and creating something fresh and original from it. With so many franchise movies looking tired and frayed around the edges, she has the imagination to show there’s still life in the idea, as long as you are creative enough. And she most certainly is.
Thankfully, this is no corporate ad in the same way as the deplorable Space Jam 2: A New Legacy. The Mattel branding is there, for sure, but it isn’t rammed down our throats and, ironically, the weakest sequences in the movie involve the company’s board: as its CEO, Will Ferrell just about manages to carry off the scenes, but he and his crew are instantly forgettable. Literally out of sight, out of mind. But the film overflows with energy, as well as a sense of both fun and the ridiculous.
Robbie is perfectly cast as Barbie — as Helen Mirren’s bone-dry narrator is at pains to point out — but it’s Gosling’s vacuous Ken who steals the show: wide-eyed, nice but dim, and well out in front when it comes to the laughs. His vulnerability is equally strong so, despite the 2-D Barbieland set and characters to match, he feels much closer to 3-D than any of the others. And with sparkling comedy turns from Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him cameo from Rob Brydon, it adds up to a boisterously hilarious piece of, dare we say it, Kentertainment.
The expectations have been massive, which isn’t unusual this year, but for once they’re justified. This is 2023’s summer movie. Barbie isn’t perfect, but it is fizzy, smart and, most importantly, inventive. She may have been launched in 1959, but there’s no sign of the iconic doll putting up her stilettoed feet when retirement age arrives next year. In fact, given the film’s likely popularity, she could be busier than ever — and that goes for all of those variations.
Barbie hits theaters on July 21, 2023.
