Barbie (12A)

Dir: Greta Gerwig

Cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, Helen Mirren

Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie‘ is a hilarious, visually dazzling comedy that tackles both modern day feminism and the patriarchy.

In recent years Greta Gerwig has established herself as one of the most promising filmmakers in Hollywood. Her debut solo directorial feature, Lady Bird (2017), was a huge success with both audiences and critics, and saw her receive her first two Academy Award nominations. She followed this up with her brilliant adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel, Little Women (2019). This saw Gerwig nominated for another Academy Award for her screenplay, which managed to showcase how timeless the novel’s central themes are. Both of Gerwig’s films touch on the roles and responsibilities placed on women, so it is no surprise that she decided to bring the most iconic symbol of feminism to the big screen – Barbie.

There has been much debate for decades whether Barbie is an empowering or demeaning figure. The iconic doll was created in the 1950’s by Ruth Handler as a means to inspire her younger daughter, Barbara, hence the name Barbie. Handler was a firm believer that Barbie had to be an adult, as all other dolls were of infants, which only taught girls how to be mothers and nothing else – Handler wanted to change this. As a result, over the subsequent decades there have been hundreds of iterations of Barbie, in order to appeal to every young girl on the planet. This has also been a source of controversy as Barbie’s unrealistically ‘perfect’ physique has been seen to lead to very real body issues in young girls. Rhea Perlman portrays Ruth Handler in the film and even states when confronted by Barbie about her appearance, “no one looks like Barbie – only Barbie“.

The controversies surrounding Barbie are front and centre at times throughout the movie, which is rather surprising as the film itself is produced by Mattel – putting themselves in the spotlight. This meta commentary by Gerwig and partner Noah Baumbach, shines a brief light on the toy magnate but mostly focuses on the more empowering side to Barbie.

The movie opens up with a riff on the ‘The Dawn of Man’ scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), as we see a group of adolescent girls playing with baby dolls. That is until the mind-blowing figure of Barbie (Margot Robbie) presents herself to them, ultimately leading the children to destroy their old toys as the Zebra swimsuit-wearing, blonde, beauty Barbie, is here to stay.

This introduces us to ‘stereotypical’ Barbie, the first of the many iterations of Barbie over the years and as quoted in the film “the first Barbie you think of when someone mentions Barbie”. Barbie lives in the matriarchal society of ‘Barbieland’ with all the other Barbies that have been developed by Mattel over the years – including some discontinued ones. In ‘Barbieland’, all of the Barbies are self-sufficient and confident, and during the day they hold important jobs such as: lawyer, doctor and President. Whilst all the Barbies are working, their Male counterparts, Ken, spend their days at the beach engaging in recreational activities. ‘Stereotypical’ Ken (the hilarious Ryan Gosling), is Barbie’s boyfriend, and is only ever happy whenever Barbie gives him any attention – which is very little.

During a well-choreographed dance party, Barbie has an existential crisis and immediately begins to question her mortality. The next morning, Barbie struggles to carry out her daily routine and discovers blemishes on her hair and skin, and is advised to go seek the outcast, ‘Weird’ Barbie (Kate McKinnon), for advice. Barbie is told that she must go to the real world and visit the girl that is playing with her to cure her affliction. While on her way out of Barbieland, Barbie discovers Ken has managed to sneak along on the trip, as he sees the adventure as an opportunity to get close to Barbie.

What follows is a hilarious fish-out-of-water story of Barbie and Ken searching around California for the girl who Barbie belongs to. Everyone in ‘Barbieland’ believes that their matriarchal reality mirrors that of the real world, and that the creation of Barbie was the most important thing to ever happen to women. Barbie and Ken soon realise the patriarchal truth of the real world, much to Ken’s delight. After playing lap dog to Barbie for so long and receiving no affection in return, Ken decides that he must bring the patriarchy back to his world and turn ‘Barbieland’ into ‘Kendom’. Meanwhile Barbie bonds with her owners; hardworking mum, Gloria (America Ferrera), and her smart but disconnect tween daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), whilst they try and evade capture from the dim-witted CEO of Mattel (Will Ferrell).

Greta Gerwig has put an incredible amount of effort into this film, with every character and prop being intricately designed. The fantastic production design by Sarah Greenwood is something to behold, the pink and plastic laden sets fully immerse you in ‘Barbieland’, and it would be astonishing if she does not win the Oscar at the Academy Awards in March. The costumes by two-time Oscar winner Jacqueline Durran are bold and vibrant, much like the titular icon herself.

Margot Robbie is the perfect casting for Barbie, it is impossible to imagine anyone else stepping into the famous pink high heels. With her stunning looks, blonde hair and blue eyes, of course she looks the part, but she also manages to bring an innocence and naïve optimism to Barbie. As the character starts to get a better understanding of the real world and herself, she becomes vital to the films emotional core, and a teary-eyed Robbie delivers a great performance opposite Rhea Perlman in the films heart-warming climax.

The huge ensemble cast of Barbies and Kens are terrific and all have their comedic and musical moments to shine. The real standout in the whole movie though, is the comedic genius that is Ryan Gosling. Every scene in which Gosling appears as the “non-genitaled” Ken, he steals the show. He fully submerges into Ken’s insecure frailties as he goes from being Barbie’s needy and persistent “boyfriend”, to a sexist, macho imbecile as he dives headfirst into the persona of what he believes a real man should be.

Gerwig and Baumbach manage to balance the camp and the sincerity with ease, keeping the movie hilarious and entertaining whilst also delivering the key messages of feminism and motherhood. As a childless man in my late twenties, I can safely say that the central themes are not aimed at me but I understand what point Gerwig is trying to make here, even though in one lengthy speech in the film’s final act – it is a bit too heavy-handed.

Nevertheless, Gerwig is well and truly in her stride here, as she delivers an original and ambitiously entertaining blockbuster. With it’s dazzling set design, superb performances, and a surprisingly poignant story, ‘Barbie‘ will have you smiling from start to finish

Barbie is now showing in Cinemas.