In director Greta Gerwig’s playful hands, “Barbie” is a bedazzled plastic Trojan horse.
Awash in pink-drenched Dreamhouses and plucky dolls, the enjoyably goofy and enormously creative meta comedy imagines what would happen if Barbie and Ken – with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling being the chef’s kiss of toy casting – got loose in our world. What Gerwig sneakily pulls off underneath that facade, however, is sort of genius: “Barbie” (★★★½ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters Friday) is really an insightful exploration of humanity, the meaning of life and the cognitive dissonance of a woman living in the patriarchy, all with a really big heart and style to spare.
Barbie Land is a super-cool place where Barbies rule and can be anything they want – from a president (Issa Rae) to a physicist (Emma Mackey) to a Nobel Prize-winning writer (Alexandra Shipp) – and as far as they’re concerned, they pretty much solved equal rights and feminism. Also living in Barbie Land are the hypercompetitive Kens, though they’re rather superfluous and primarily good for cheerleading and dance-party backflips.
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Robbie plays Stereotypical Barbie – as the main character explains, “I’m the Barbie everyone thinks of when you think of Barbie” – and her days are filled with saying hi to other Barbies, tooling around in her convertible (pink, obviously) and hosting fun shindigs. (This seems a good time to point out “Barbie” is a technical marvel with its snazzy costumes and brilliant production design. Who wouldn’t want to careen down a Dreamhouse slide daily?)
But oddly, thoughts of death (which she reveals in the worst of places, the dance floor!) creep into her noggin, followed by un-Barbie-like bouts with bad breath, cold showers, burnt waffles, flat feet and cellulite. She visits Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) – a Barbie that’s been played with way too hard – and learns there’s a “malfunction” in the connection with her person in the Real World and has to go there to put everything back to normal.
The Ken (Gosling) who’s in love with our hero Barbie – and has a load of crippling insecurities – comes along for the ride, and the situation immediately goes sideways because, well, reality isn’t a Toys R Us aisle. They get arrested (twice), Ken becomes very interested in the fact that men rule this world, and Barbie meets her makers at Mattel, where the CEO (Will Ferrell) wants to put her back in a box.
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Robbie’s doll also takes flak from young critics for being a poster toy for consumerism and unrealistic beauty standards and gets a crash course in having emotions – like a twist on Pinocchio, Barbie realizes what it’s like to be a real girl, complete with anxiety and sobbing. Along the way, a couple of human folks, Mattel employee Gloria (a great America Ferrera) and her tween daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), get caught up in Barbie’s existential crisis.
Written by Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach, “Barbie” boasts a joyously wry self-awareness akin to the “Lego Movies,” taps into childhood innocence a la “Toy Story,” plus goes deep weaving in actual Barbie history. (Anyone remember pregnant Midge? The discontinued doll, played by Emerald Fennell, pops up in a running gag.) The narrative jostles between extreme silliness and heady self-reflection, with not a lot of middle ground, though Ferrera and a bunch of brainwashed Barbies are front and center for a hilarious and incisive sequence explaining contemporary gender dynamics.
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Surrounded by a supporting cast including Dua Lipa and John Cena, the two leads are stellar together, especially in navigating Barbie and Ken’s complicated codependence. Robbie showcases her comedy chops but really shines in those moments when Barbie is overwhelmed by the ruckus she’s inadvertently caused. And Gosling throws himself into all things Ken, wearing an increasingly ludicrous wardrobe and artfully crafting a character arc just as essential to the film’s emotional core as Robbie’s.
That old Aqua song was right: Life in plastic, it is fantastic. With a neon-drenched landscape, a heap of nostalgia and charming performances, Gerwig delivers for all the “Barbie” girls and boys.
