This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn't exist.
Considering all of the Barbie animated films over the years (42 to be exact, of which Barbie as the Princess Pauper still reigns supreme), it's surprising that the journey to live-action has been as tumultuous as this. Initially devised in 2009, the film has gone through various studios, producers, rewrites, and talent in the years since – most notably Amy Schumer, attached in 2016, before a complete overhaul saw Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach take over in 2019.
Often such production turmoil doesn't bode well for the final result but there are few offers as tantalising as Gerwig and Baumbach taking on a toy brand symbolic of so many political and corporate ideals. The result is fittingly surreal, existential and perhaps one of the most subversive and interesting blockbusters in years.
Opening with a riff on 2001: A Space Odyssey (the black monolith swapped out for a towering, beaming Margot Robbie who is perfect for this role) and gleefully narrated by Helen Mirren, Gerwig is quick to establish the tone of her Barbie. What follows is an equally gonzo 108-minutes, dialled to 11, that ruminates on feminism, capitalism, and confronting one's mortality using the candy-coloured pastels of Barbie's iconic wardrobe and giant musical numbers that feel straight out of a Jacques Demy film. Logic is thrown out of the window; self-referential, meta-winking is at an all-time high; surrealist flourishes are aplenty; Barbie has never been – in the best way possible – weirder.
Everything is perfect in Barbie Land, you see. The Barbies think their existence has solved feminism and they live in blissful ignorance – cyclical days of parties, sleepovers and empowerment. But when Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) starts to malfunction in a slew of comical bits — her feet become flat, she falls off her roof (after all “no one walks their Barbie out the doll-house”) and she contemplates her very existence — Barbie heads to the real world for answers. Joined by Ken (Ryan Gosling), an affable dope riddled with the insecurity of playing second fiddle to Barbs and constantly vying for her attention, the pair find everything they know thrown into disarray. Barbie is shocked that women aren't leading the charge and dolls have been abandoned as old relics, while Ken fixates on the patriarchy and a newfound sense of self.
In less sophisticated hands, this could feel like the kind of shilling done to tide over co-producers Mattel, but Gerwig doesn't shy away from calling them out either – hyper-aware that Barbie, despite its best efforts, was a conformist doll with idealistic beauty standards. “You've been making women feel bad about themselves since you were invented,” one girl remarks to our titular doll. In many ways, art can be hypocritical and Gerwig has become known to scratch the surface of such musings, but here she never digs as deep as she perhaps could. Barbie is, instead, a story of womanhood and societal values and Gerwig deftly explores these themes throughout Barbie and Ken's opposing and yet symbiotic trajectories, but the thematic juggling doesn't always coalesce. Sometimes it feels like Gerwig is spinning too many plates, but it comes together in a deeply moving finale that brings the film's emotional core full circle.
It's also immensely funny. It's difficult to see anyone fitting the role more perfectly than Robbie and her endless effervescence imbues the character with empathy and innocence as a fish-out-of-water navigating the real world. However, it's Gosling who steals the show as Ken with the lion's share of zingers. Donning fur robes, strumming guitar and flexing his abs, Ken goes from only knowing how to “beach” (not to be mistaken for lifeguarding) to playing foil to the Barbies as the poster boy of the patriarchy. His ‘I'm Just Ken' ballad is easily the film's highlight and might even go down as one of the year's best scenes. But the ensemble is endless and everyone puts in solid work with other notable turns from America Ferrera, Kingsley Ben-Adir and a superb Michael Cera as Ken's best mate Allen.
It's hard to imagine that Barbie could be anything other than a cynical attempt from Mattel to cash in on such a recognisable (albeit somewhat dated) brand and, yet, Gerwig's take on the intellectual property is not only anything but, it's one of the very best films of the year. Who would have thought that meta-existentialism would be such a good look on Barbie?
Barbie releases in UK cinemas on 21st July 2023.
