Details
Director: Greta Gerwig
Writers: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling
Run time: 114 minutes
Summary of the Movie
Barbie (Margot Robbie) has the perfect life in Barbieland. She is self-confident and relies on only herself to maintain her home and a fulfilled life. Ken (Ryan Gosling) always seeks her attention and her approval. He also loves her, but that love remains unrequited. Suddenly, Barbie begins having atypical thoughts and bodily afflictions (cellulite and her heels touching the ground) and learns the cause stems from whoever is playing with her in the real world. She must journey there to uncover the truth and set all her affairs back into order. Ken stows away in her car and the pair soon find themselves experiencing a massive case of culture shock—much to Barbie’s chagrin, but to Ken’s excitement.
Upon discovering that the cause for Barbie’s afflictions is not from some child growing disillusioned with age, but instead, from a mother dealing with her insecurities and finding solace in privately playing with old toys, Barbie resolves to return to Barbieland and to her idyllic life (a gross oversimplification on my part, but if you want the details, watch the movie). Ken already has a lead on her with plans he made after taking inspiration from the real world, namely what he discovered about patriarchy from his time in Los Angeles and some books he got from a library.
Upon her return to Barbieland, Barbie discovers that Ken has already influenced the other Kens into revamping Barbieland into Kenland. And those Kens have subsequently influenced most of the Barbies to go along with the scheme. A vote is pending to change the government in only a matter of days.
Barbie’s goal is to persuade the remaining Barbies (discontinued dolls and misfits) into helping her set things back to order. Gloria, the mother who started Barbie’s whole ordeal, and her daughter Sasha have also come to Barbieland and agree to help. Meanwhile, Mattel CEO (Will Ferrell) and his sycophants, en route for damage control, have plans of their own.
So did I like the Barbie (2023) movie?
As a matter of fact, I did. Yes, it is woke. Yes, it’s ridiculous. It’s on the nose. And you know what? It works. Admittedly, I rolled my eyes when the narrator said, “Thanks to Barbie, all problems of feminism and equal rights have been solved.” That’s quite the declaration. But as the movie unfolds, it goes on to show that those problems have been anything but solved. At some point, I worried that the narrative would skew the other way and relentlessly decry that Barbie set too many unrealistic expectations on girls regarding body size and shape and gender roles. It touches on that, but the movie is thoughtful enough to not dwell there. Instead, it relentlessly shows what it’s like to be a human being who is often reduced to a stereotype and a punchline. What I thought would be vapid escapism turned out to be a smart—and biting—social commentary.
Ryan Gosling plays the role of a shallow scoundrel well. Margot Robbie is more than believable as a Barbie coming to realize just how pampered, and unrealistic, her life has been. I won’t spoil things by sharing more.
I think the movie is worth watching and probably rewatching. Is it a theater must? Not really. Sure, the cinematography is beautiful on a big screen and the dance numbers (Grease [1978] fans will probably love those) are great with the sound system in the auditorium I was in, but I doubt watching the movie from home will cheapen the experience enough to matter. In any event, the hype is deserved as is the opening weekend’s $162 million in earnings.
