Barbie (2023)
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Barbie Movie Review
Barbie is a 2023 fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. It’s a wildly entertaining, but very problematic movie.
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“To be honest, when I found out the patriarchy
wasn’t just about horses, I lost interest“
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Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans. The unexpected box office hit and a hugely acclaimed movie, Barbie turned out to be quite a phenomenon this summer, but I skipped seeing it in theaters, so this was my first time seeing it at home and it ended up being just as fun and just as problematic as I’d expected it would be.
Let’s get the commentary out of the way first. This movie was just as toxic as I’d expected it would be, and in some instances the dialogue was so cringe-worthy in its biased and preachy nature that I ended up rolling my eyes throughout many of the big speeches in the film. It is one thing to make a feminist film with a great, empowering message for women, but it is a whole other thing to make a movie that also to a degree vilifies the men in women’s lives all the while pretending that we are somehow still living in the 20th century.
The creators of this film would want to make you believe that women in America are still subjugated and that men rule the country. This is an American movie that was primarily made with American audiences in mind, so this pretense that misogyny is running rampant and in California no less rang not just false, but manipulative too as once again the biggest issue of class divide is thoroughly ignored here in favor of once again turning different groups against each other, in this instance women against men. There was a clear fix here – make a period piece. Had it been set in the past, I would have appreciated the movie much more.
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But regardless of the implausible nature of its script, the dialogue would remain atrocious in any different setting. Some of the more comedic lines were great and quite funny, but the film’s speeches were not just one-note and simplistic, but also painfully unrealistic. We see various female characters argue against sexism while going through all the ridiculous feminist jargon that you would only find in college campuses and the worst SJW circles on the internet. Real women do not speak like this, but of course Hollywood has to be Hollywood, so being grounded in reality is never an option for them as they have lost any connective tissue with the real world long ago.
The ending of the movie is also deeply flawed. The final line I liked quite a bit and the surprisingly existentialist sequence where Barbie has a deep conversation with her creator was both powerful and very intriguing. But pitting Barbies against Kens was unnecessary and those scenes were the most expected and boring sequences that you would see in any other American blockbuster out there.
The decision to let Kens have some jobs, but only the insignificant ones was also horrendous as the movie once again cemented its messaging that women in today’s Western societies are somehow still unfairly judged and disempowered, which simply is false and it’s quite dangerous to lie to your audiences like this. The overemphasis on toxic masculinity as the film’s major theme was also troublesome as they of course ignored the toxic traits of women themselves, leading to another one-sided argument. Yes, they did depict patriarchy as being oppressive to men and not just women, but a more balanced and realistic take on the struggles of both sexes and their divide would have been much preferable.
How does the movie fair besides all the politics and questionable storytelling? Well, it has its many strengths, which is why I do contend that it had the potential to be a blockbuster classic with a better and more nuanced script. But the characterization is surprisingly strong for this type of movie with the central character being particularly well developed, complex and receiving an emotionally charged, compelling arc that really worked.
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Margot Robbie was born to play this role not just in looks alone, but in her comedic delivery that was effortless here and inherent charisma and sweetness to her. Her performance is most definitely worthy of an Oscar nomination. She was capable at both the comedic and the more dramatic and emotional beats. Ryan Gosling is another standout. His comedic delivery is also effortless and this superb performance should get him more comedic roles in the future.
The other characters all come and go with the standouts being the perfectly cast and hilarious Michael Cera as the disposable Allan and the very eccentric and also wonderfully cast Kate McKinnon. As for Will Ferrell, he was actually quite funny as the dumb CEO of Mattel, but those scenes set inside the company’s headquarters mostly felt like an overlong afterthought.
Visually, Barbie is an utter delight. The production design work done on this movie was simply breathtaking. There is so much pink color that it would undeniably appeal to women as well as children while fitting perfectly with the brand itself. The dollhouses looked so cozy and all the little details with the Barbies eating but not really eating and showering but not really doing anything were so funny. Both the interiors and the exteriors in this film were absolutely gorgeous to behold and they evoked so well the old-fashioned Hollywood that I absolutely love, the kind where ingenious craftsmanship trumped CGI.
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There is also the soundtrack. The song I’m Just Ken was such a grandiose, superbly executed 80s inspired power ballad that was beautifully choreographed as well. Other numbers were a mixed bag, but most were reasonably diverting and charming. Greta Gerwig directed the actors and some of the humor superbly, but she needed a better script and more nuanced dialogue to elevate the material more. All of the jokes that were aimed at Mattel and the toys themselves were terrific and even hilarious, but other gags ranged from serviceable to cringe-worthy.
Barbie the movie should be analyzed separately as a fun blockbuster itself and a political movie because, have no qualms about it, Greta Gerwig has made an extremely political movie that was just disguised as vibrant popcorn fare. The soundtrack is mostly terrific with I’m Just Ken being an undeniable highlight. There is also the impeccable production design that perfectly evoked what it must feel like playing with these dolls. The acting performances are uniformly strong too with the standouts being the very funny Ryan Gosling and the perfectly cast and outstanding Margot Robbie. Whenever the movie focused on making fun of Mattel and the dolls themselves, it was a lot of fun and even hilarious. However, it is in the commentary that the film failed miserably. In a world where fighting the class divide should be the biggest priority for us all, a film like Barbie pitting women against men was unnecessary and just toxic. Depicting the world today as deeply misogynistic was ludicrous and a simple fix would have been to make it a period piece, which would make this entire movie feel less ridiculous and more believable. But even worse are the chaotic script and especially the one-note dialogue as the characters would constantly give out speeches that lacked nuance altogether, coming across as deeply one-sided feminist sermons filled with the insufferable SJW jargon that we’d all come to expect from these clueless filmmakers who have by now become fully disconnected from the real world.
My Rating – 3.5
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