Review: Barbie
In Greta Gerwig’s colourful comedy, the iconic doll finds her life in plastic becoming less than fantastic
Barbie (Margot Robbie) has a perfect day every day. She greets her friends, hops in her car, and hangs out at the beach with the other Barbies — and the Kens are there too. In Barbieland, the Barbies are President, Supreme Court judges, physicists and Nobel Prize winners. They can wear pink, show emotion AND run the world, without losing any credibility whatsoever. This is a matriarchy where every night is girl’s night. Because that’s the legacy of Barbie, right? By creating dolls that could be anything, they inspired women in the Real World to be anything. At least, that’s what they believe, until Barbie starts experiencing intrusive thoughts and — gasp! — cellulite. Upon visiting crayon-covered oracle ‘Weird Barbie’ (an excellently-cast Kate McKinnon) for advice, Barbie learns that her troubles are a reflection of the girl who’s playing with her in the Real World, and the only way to get things back to normal is to go there and meet her.
Chaos ensues as Barbie (and her loyal follower Ken, played with impeccable comic timing by Ryan Gosling) embark on an Elf-style journey to learn about humans in Los Angeles, quickly discovering that the Real World isn’t quite what they thought it would be. There are no women in the boardroom or even on the construction sites: in fact, it’s a man’s world and Ken is delighted to learn about the concept of patriarchy.
In the film’s first twist, Barbie’s Real World playmate turns out not to be a young girl but her mother Gloria (America Ferrera) who works at Mattel. Gloria’s disillusion with the female experience has resulted in Barbie’s malfunctioning, and she seizes the chance to protect her old friend and make things right. When Mattel executives, led by Will Ferrell’s CEO, discover that their doll’s gone AWOL, they launch a search party to capture and return Barbie to her box.
But while Barbie and her Real World friends are making their escape, Ken is bringing his new knowledge home, and the Barbieland the women find when they return is much changed. A battle of the sexes ensues: can the women restore the matriarchy to its former glory, or will the patriarchy emerge victorious? Better still, can the Barbies and Kens find a way to live in harmony?
‘Barbiemania’ has been rife in the weeks leading up to the film’s release: one look at an inner city street or Instagram feed and you won’t be able to miss the ubiquitous swathes of pink. But anyone heading to the cinema in costume looking for a gentle nostalgia ride will find their expectations challenged. This Greta Gerwig-penned and directed comedy may be stuffed to the brim with gags, but it comes with a satirical edge. Gerwig and husband Noah Baumbach’s script explores issues around gender equality, toxic masculinity and the complex emotions that come with being a human being.
Although the Barbieland at the start of the story may seem like a utopia, we see how it has left the Kens without a sense of purpose: as Helen Mirren’s deadpan narration puts it, ‘Ken only has a great day when Barbie looks at him’. This is a decidedly ‘female gaze’ movie, highlighting the problem of gender inequality by reversing the status of the sexes. It’s a satisfying watch for millennial feminists like myself, who grew up with Barbie but see how its promise of progress failed to cross over to reality. And it says something about the state of current affairs when the sight of an all-female government is the stuff of a fantasy utopia, whilst male dominance is still the norm in many countries.
Stars Robbie and Gosling are surrounded by a stellar supporting cast, including Issa Rae, Simu Liu, Michael Cena and Sex Education graduates Emma Mackey, Ncuti Gatwa and Connor Swindells. Matilda star Rhea Perlman gets an adorable cameo as Ruth Handler, the inventor of Barbie who named the doll after her daughter Barbara. There’s even a cameo from soundtrack star Dua Lipa as Mermaid Barbie, joined later by John Cena as her Merman Ken. Speaking of the music, we’re spoiled there too: Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Sam Smith, Nicki Minaj and more feature on the soundtrack. Cinephiles will also appreciate the film’s opening scene lampooning 2001: A Space Odyssey, where young children toss their baby dolls into the sky upon the arrival of swimsuit-clad giant Barbie in 1959.
As the story cartwheels towards its heart-warming resolution, there’s an optimistic message to take home with you. Because though we may sometimes wish everything was as perfect as in Barbieland, there’s something to be said for the messy, imperfect journey of being human.
*****
