Barbie

When I heard that Greta Gerwig was directing and co-writing (with her partner Noah Baumbach) this summer's BARBIE, I knew we were in for something at least a bit different than a glorified toy commercial designed merely to draw the coveted demographic of teenage girls back to theaters.  Maybe for a second or two did I wonder if Gerwig, who acted in several indie films before finding acclaim as director of LADY BIRD and her adaptation of LITTLE WOMEN, actually did sell out and go for easy Hollywood glitz and cheese.  I should've known better.  

Going in, I expected intelligence, humor, and heart, but Greta went beyond.  Sometimes way beyond.  Here is a film that works in so many ways, and never felt dishonest.  Even as it gets to have its cake and eat it too.  The film is a box office juggernaut, perhaps more so than anyone imagined.  You can chalk it up to marketing genius, especially with its unlikely association with OPPENHEIMER as its double feature.  Both films have shattered records.  Hail, BARBENHEIMER!

Ahem.  BARBIE is far from perfect, and for all my accolades I still have to cite the film for being a bit preachy and self serious at times, yet never heavy handed.  Somehow, Gerwig has mostly found a way to make feminist declarations without being a party pooper or creating some seething manifesto.  And also not, despite what some fragile males have accused, succumbing to misandry.  

"Stereotypical" Barbie (Margot Robbie) has lived her entire existence in Barbieland, a pink saturated paradise where women, all named Barbie, hold the important jobs while the men, all named Ken, play on the beach.  Most are content with this lot, though "Beach" Ken (Ryan Gosling) wants to be our main Barbie's boyfriend.  She's too independent for that, and prefers parties with her gal pals.

Do their lack of genitals have anything to do with this? Is Beach Ken becoming more human in spite of it?

But soon Barbie sees her perfectly orchestrated days fall apart.  She even has thoughts of mortality.  And her arches have fallen.  Something is clearly amiss.  After seeking out  the sage "Weird" Barbie (Kate McKinnon), a former beauty who suffered disfigurement, she learns she must find her owner in the real world to correct the imbalance.  She will travel to another plastic paradise known as Los Angeles (with stowaway Ken) on her mission, ending up at Mattel HQ, its CEO played by Will Farrell, in a funny but rather lazy performance.  I won't reveal more.

BARBIE treads some rather heady ideals, many of which work onscreen.  You can easily see an alternate, humorless version of this film; that's how existential it tries to get.  But this is essentially a comedy, often very funny, albeit somewhat subversive and anticipatory of criticism.  Many don't like that; I found it clever and telling.  How the film handles the subject of patriarchy is not dismissive or hateful, if only one dimensional viewers would open their minds a bit.   There are scholarly essays to be found on this movie, but at the end of the day the film just advocates for being yourself.  Self esteem building.  Accepting less than perfection, and those less than perfect.   Basic ideas, yet so profound.

One significant flaw - the film doesn't seem to know what to make of or how to handle Allan (Michael Cera).  He just ends up marginalized.  Maybe that was the point?

I liked Helen Mirren's narration.  Yes, even her blatantly meta one liner (you'll know it when you hear it).  When things like that work, they work.

The art direction is fab.  Robbie is perfectly cast and gorgeous.  Her role is less flashy than Gosling's (who arguably steals the movie) but necessarily so.  She never goes for goofy look-at-me slapstick, which would've been deadly.  Gerwig has just the right touch for this bittersweet tale, predictably cuing tears at moments very contrived to do so, but after all, we viewers are human.  And guys, you're "Kenough", awright?