Miss Flicks

Barbie: Film Review

It has arrived – my most anticipated movie of the year – Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig.

The film tells the story of stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie), who lives a perfect life in Barbieland, where women run society and have all the positions of power. She starts to malfunction and needs to go to the real world to get fixed – and this journey will change her worldview forever.

Barbie is the weirdest, most unexpected studio movie I have seen in a long time. I’m actually shocked Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach got away with some of these ideas and they weren’t canned or watered down by Warner Bros. or Mattel. It is bold, smart, ambitious and definitely not for children. I mean, kids may enjoy it on a superficial level but it’s aimed at adults because it tells a story about our patriarchal society.

I always knew that Gerwig and Baumbach would find a feminist take on the story, they wouldn’t have been able to make it in 2023 otherwise, and it delivers that message loud and clear. However, speaking as a feminist myself, I think it actually went overboard in that regard and it could have been dialled back slightly. For that reason, I wasn’t as enamoured with the second half of the film, from when Barbie returns to Barbieland.

Although the story and message didn’t fully work for me in the second half, I still had so much fun with it. Gerwig deftly balances the silliness (it’s so silly at times) with meaningful existential questions and reflections on what it means to be a woman in a patriarchal society. It is genuinely hilarious and I haven’t laughed out loud so much in one sitting in ages. I cackled at pretty much everything Ryan Gosling did as Ken – he seemed to have a direct connection to my funny bone. He is absolutely brilliant and the star of the show.

There are so many stars in this film that it would be impossible to mention them all. Robbie obviously deserves a shout-out for being the most perfect Barbie in terms of aesthetics. But this Barbie doesn’t just have the looks – she has agency, curiosity, emotional depth and serious questions about her place in society. There are many other variations of Barbie in this movie and I particularly enjoyed Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie, who has been mistreated by her human in the real world. She is odd but extremely wise.

Elsewhere, America Ferrera shares the emotional weight of the story as Gloria, a stressed mother in the real world, and Michael Cera is hilarious as a kooky outsider named Allan. Will Ferrell gives his usual performance and Helen Mirren is wonderful as the narrator and has the best line in the entire movie.

There is so much going on in Barbie that I struggled to take it all in. I want to watch it again to really appreciate everything – from the stunning production and costume design to the banging soundtrack and all the fun stylistic flourishes – and to see that gloriously camp musical number again. In fact, there are a lot of scenes I want to see again because I laughed over them too much. It is that funny.

Barbie is a joy to behold. I cannot believe this film exists in this form. Make sure you watch it with a crowd.

In cinemas from Friday 21st July