Now that the whole world has apparently gone to see Barbie, it seems like the secret is finally out. Margot Robbie is not the star of Barbie. Yes, she plays the lead. Yes, she produced it. Yes, she gets to spend a lot of time running around in nice dresses. But the star? Heavens, no. If you’ve seen Barbie, then you’ll be fully aware that the star of the film is actually Ryan Gosling.
Gosling plays Ken, Barbie’s superfluous paramour. But while Barbie has been the central force of the film’s heavy-handed marketing campaign, it turns out that the film is secretly a Ken vehicle. Ken gets the juiciest character arc. He gets all the good jokes. He gets a musical number. He gets more than one musical number. He’s self-aware, self-referential and complicated. It might just qualify as the greatest role of Ryan Gosling’s life.
