Yes! Irrepressible-thoughts-of-death-Barbie!

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2023

#7 :  Barbie

Sublime! What better way to describe Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie in just one word? Packed with pure invention, comedy, drama, dancing, and tons of heart, this is not the film based on the iconic doll that we were expecting – but one that absolutely delivered as one half of the summer’s oddest double-bill. Margot Robbie simply is stereotypical Barbie, a perfect feminine creation enjoying her life in the matriarchal Barbie Land, until the anxiety and fear from the woman playing with her in the real world – America Ferrera’s Gloria – starts to seep in, and turns everything upside-down. Robbie is exceptional, Ryan Gosling is having perhaps the most fun anyone’s ever had on screen, and the whole cast of Barbies and Kens commit entirely to this heightened, hilarious world. And, underneath that pink, plastic exterior lie genuinely moving musings on being a woman, a mother, a partner, and a human. Like we said: sublime.

It's rare for me to be the last member of the family to watch a film, and even rarer for them all to have seen it at the cinema - I'm intrigued to watch this, but fear it might be a bit too much.

Hmmm - I'd say it is a bit too much at times, but there's so much going on that something else will be along in no time to confuse/amaze/delight you.  Margot Robbie is stereotypical Barbie living in Barbieland where all the women run everything, have a blast and meet up for dance parties every night.  And Ryan Gosling as Ken is, well, just Ken.  But, as The Guardian explains, things take a dark turn for Barbie and she starts thinking of death and cellulite, so she has to visit the real world and Ken comes along for the ride - and things just go downhill from there.

It's most definitely weird, but it's also pretty funny - it's got some great throwaway lines in it.  And it also, in its weird way, hangs together pretty well and, in a Lego Movie stylee, they get away with a lot more criticism of the "product" than you might imagine.  I do have concerns there's some irony-washing going on - making something that's fundamentally problematic seem more acceptable through the use of "oh look at us - laughing at ourselves and we're totally fine with it. As long as you send a load more cash our way". But all the weird Barbies described are absolutely true and it's to the films credit that it's happy to explore some of the batshit thinking that must have happened for them to appear. Growing Up Skipper with her expandable breasts - seriously?!?

Whatever the motivation, Margot Robbie is very good in this and in an interesting way because she has to act at being unable to act or, in fact, do anything - the scene where she learns how to drink tea is well done.  There's also a interesting moment where she transforms from Barbie-beautiful whilst complaining she's not pretty anymore - "note to filmmakers: Margot Robbie is not the actress to get this point across" as the meta voiceover announces  Interestingly, a lot of people didn't like that line at all but it rang pretty true for me.

Ryan Gosling is indeed having a blast with this but he also handles the existential crisis of the role surprisingly well and his dance number is really quite something - as it also was at the Oscars that happened "last night" (I'm writing this up waaaaay before you're going to get to read it).

Other cast members that stand out are America Ferrara who is great with her feminist anti-brainwashing rant which is very well done indeed and Ariana Greenblatt is very well cast as her daughter with an uneasy chemistry between the two of them.  Michael Cera is interesting because Allan is a very weird character indeed which felt it had more potential than it was given and I'm also not convinced I'd have hired Will Ferrell for the role of CEO after his turn in The Lego Movie - but obviously that was their choice and I have to admit he does it well.

You definitely get the impression that this was a fun set because people were obviously queuing up to appear in cameo roles - names I recognised from the cast list, if not necessarily in the film are Dua Lipa, Nicola Coughlan, Ncuti Gatwa, John Cena, Rhea Perlman, Jamie Demetriou, Emerald Fennell, Asim Chaudry and Rob Brydon.

Credit has to go to Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach for writing what I suspect no-one was expecting to see from a Barbie film and Greta handles the direction well, making it all very watchable with a LOT going on at times. I also suspect no-one was expecting it to be quite as successful as it was - not least in part due to the "Barbenheimer" phenomemon (watching it as a double bill with this) it grossed nearly $1.5 billion. Wikipedia also has a surprisingly large section on controversy - unsurprisingly, various countries weren't so keen on the LGBTQ-friendly content but the biggest section is on the supposed inclusion of the "nine-dash line", which is far too complex a topic for me to even try and explain here!

I enjoyed this - it's not a subtle package, but there's some surprisingly subtle points in there along with some pretty funny lines and there are some great performances from people who are having a great time doing so. Interestingly, it's not on The Guardian's list - I can assure you that it's waaaaay more watchable than most of their offerings (although they did give it a decent enough review). If you've not seen it, I think it's worth checking out because even if you don't like it, it's not going to be what you were expecting - it's available to stream on Sky or to rent in all the usual places. 

#8 - Utterly, utterly charming
#6 - Fine looking, but somewhat confusing