This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being reviewed here wouldn’t exist.

She’s been around for over 60 years yet she doesn’t look a day over 19. She’s been a fashion model, an astronaut, a teacher, an army medic, a spy, a Canadian Mountie and even the president of the United States. Barbie has been the best 11½ inches of plastic a girl could ever dream of for generations but one thing she hasn’t been until now is existential. After much hype and anticipation, Greta Gerwig’s (LITTLE WOMEN; LADY BIRD; FRANCES HA) new movie, BARBIE, has finally arrived and it’s not at all what you might think it’s going to be. Gerwig’s Barbie suffers an existential crisis when her impossibly arched feet suddenly fall flat.

Everything is perfect in Barbieland. The sun is always shining, the water in the shower is always the right temperature and the orange juice is always fresh. Barbie or perhaps more correctly, Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie, THE SUICIDE SQUAD) is living the dream along with all her Barbie versions and friends, including Writer Barbie (Alexandra Shipp, TICK, TICK… BOOM!), President Barbie (Issa Rae, HBO’s INSECURE), Mermaid Barbie (singer Dua Lipa) and the very pregnant Midge (Emerald Fennell, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN). It’s not all women in Barbieland though. There’s also Ken (Ryan Gosling, LA LA LAND) and his various uncategorized versions (played by Simu Liu, SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS; and Kingsley Ben-Adir, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI; among others), and the bland Allan (Michael Cera, SUPERBAD; JUNO). But one morning, Barbie wakes up in her heart-shaped bed and discovers that something has changed. She learns from Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon, BOMBSHELL; OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY) that she has to travel to the Real World in order to set things right again. Off she goes with Ken and, once there, she meets the suits at Mattel and a few others who will teach her a few important life lessons. Ken also learns a few things about the Real World but his lessons don’t mesh with Barbie’s.

BARBIE certainly isn’t the first movie ever made about a toy (there are the G. I. JOE films, all the TRANSFORMERS films and the LEGO MOVIES, among many others) but it’s probably the most daring. Gerwig and her co-writer and life partner Noah Baumbach don’t shy away from taking a few potshots at Mattel for some of its marketing gaffes over the years (remember Barbie Video Girl?) or the fact that the company has only had two female CEOs in its history, but it’s clearly all in good fun. I heard the CEO of Mattel on the radio this morning talking about the film and he is over the moon with it. Indeed, the company expects to see a jump in doll sales that is expected to last until 2030.

It’s not all comedy though, as BARBIE also has an important social message to impart, one that Mattel may be moving towards. While all the other Barbies have careers, Stereotypical Barbie doesn’t know where her place is in the world and it’s this journey of self-discovery where she finds out what she really wants. I have to say that some people may take issue with the film’s final scene so we’ll see in the coming days what the buzz on social media is.

Robbie is ideally cast to play the titular character with her perfect looks and willingness to do physical comedy but it’s Gosling who steals the film with his hilarious take on the blond virgin whose only talent is “beach”. His musical number, “I’m Just Ken”, which is a counterpoint to the film’s irrepressibly upbeat and oft-times witty soundtrack, is fabulous and maybe if he sang that well in LA LA LAND, I would have liked that film. Gerwig, for her part, lights and stages all the musical numbers impeccably, taking cues from some of the big Hollywood musicals of the 1950s.

Writing two hours of comedy is hard though, and BARBIE does falter a bit in the final act as the Barbies attempt to bring some order back to their bubblegum pink world. Gerwig could easily have cut a few minutes out here and the film would have been better for it. Even so, BARBIE is still an enjoyable summer romp.

BARBIE opens around the world today.

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