Barbie Review: Margot Robbie Digs Her Heels Into This Generation-Defining Comedy (And Ryan Gosling Is, Like, Pretty Good, Too)

Barbie starting through mirror frame in Barbie

As a child of the 1980s, I am more than accustomed to seeing and experiencing beloved childhood properties being stripped of everything that made them great, all for the sake of the almighty dollar. That process hasn’t slowed down much here in the 2020s, and will likely continue for generations to come, but Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated toy-daptation Barbie has set a lofty new benchmark for how insightful, dynamic and powerful storytelling can be for a film based on plastic and fabric. Though I was never a Barbie-head in my youth, Margot Robbie & Co. made me want to jump on that pink and polished bandwagon with all the obsessive energy I’d given the Ninja Turtles and Batman characters. 

Barbie

(Image credit: WB)

Release Date: July 21, 2023
Directed By: Greta Gerwig
Written By: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Will Ferrell, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuit Gatwa, and Michael Cera
Rating: PG-13 for suggestive references and brief language
Runtime: 114 minutes