Barbie review: Ryan Gosling more than Kenough in dazzlingly feminist fantasy

After months of hype, audiences are finally about to have their tickets to Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s version of Barbie in a summer movie so unexpected and so unpredictable that it will demand repeat viewings and future essays galore.

Barbie is exactly what you would hope for when a writer-director as assured and specific as Gerwig combines with the passion of producer Robbie and the megabucks of a studio like Warner Bros.

It makes for a lavish, fresh and frankly risky take on Mattel’s iconic doll that few could have dreamed would actually get the green light, let alone the attention it certainly deserves.

There are moments that will likely draw audible gasps, as cinemagoers delight in Barbie actually ‘going there’.

In the movie, a pitch-perfect Robbie stars as Stereotypical Barbie – exactly the type you imagine when someone says ‘Barbie’, as she puts it herself – who enjoys the best day every single day until one day she suddenly… doesn’t.

Barbie lives in Barbie Land, populated by multiple different Barbies and Kens, and even Midge, Skipper and Allan (a stand-out Michael Cera) for the die-hard fans, where the Barbies are busy running things and enjoying complete domination in work and society and the Kens are just, well, Ken.

But it turns out our hero Barbie’s not-so-great day has caused a tear in the fabric between Barbie Land and the real world, which calls for her to venture away from the safety of everything she knows to find and help the girl playing with her.

Desperate to please her as he struggles with being more of an accessory than a boyfriend to Barbie, Beach Ken (a genuinely Oscar-worthy Ryan Gosling) comes along for the ride, little knowing how he might be inspired by the way things are in the real world.

There is no doubt that Barbie is an intensely feminist fable, as well it should be, that will (quite deliciously) rile up the Andrew Tate-serving sections of society that still haven’t worked out what that word actually means.

In Barbie Land, the dolls are content in their understanding that they have ‘fixed’ everything for girls and women in the real world so that they too can be President or a doctor or a lawyer or a diplomat or a Nobel Prize-holder in physics – or even more than one of these things at the same time, if the mood takes them.

However, our Barbie is in for a rude awakening when she encounters the tweenagers of a more modern era, who waste no time in telling her exactly what they think of her. Here, too, is one of the most brilliant things about the Barbie movie: The creative team has already thought of – and then promptly makes – every joke or criticism that you could possibly come up with about her.

As an incredibly self-aware film though, Barbie is still respectful of the toy’s fanbase and makers, as well as the cultural phenomenon that she is – society might try to make Barbie about repressing women, but this film celebrates her as something that tries to inspire them to do exactly what they want.

Mattel Films took a big risk with this movie, and their executives’ anxiety during production can be understood when it comes to the multiple quips made at the brand’s own expense, including mention of some of the more questionable dolls they introduced (Growing Up Skipper, anyone?).

There’s also a lot of poking fun at corporate culture and hypocrisy thanks to the film’s fictional CEO (Will Ferrell) and his exclusively male team. Barbie would lack a lot of its bite without this though, and this arch knowingness is one of the film’s best attributes.

Perhaps ironically, in a movie all about Barbie, which boasts stand-out performances from all of its cast, including Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie and Simu Lui as Gosling’s Ken’s rival Ken, it is Gosling that walks off with the film.

It’s a well-documented fact that he is an outstanding dramatic actor with a good sense of humour, but the commitment and comedic chops he displays as a brooding, not-so-smart but very deeply hurt Ken is nothing short of sensational. He propels the majority of the plot forward and has to balance a lot by being likable but not too much, loyal but not needy and Barbie’s foil without overpowering her story (a perfect reflection of a struggle pointed out elsewhere in the movie…).

Despite the glory of Barbie, there are a couple of niggles in the otherwise-impressive film. Occasionally the balancing act between subplots is a little uneven, and some of the joins between Barbie Land characters and real world characters are a little clunky.

Despite having an incredibly nuanced take on the topic of Barbie, the basic plot is rather simply resolved at the end of the film – although via a great gag. A little more story might not have gone amiss there, although a film playing at 108 minutes is a welcome rarity in the cinema of today.

The heavy topics of identity, the patriarchy and generally having an existential crisis are ones that will go over the heads of the youngest Barbie fans too, who might find it a little too grown-up, but it serves that millennial market sweet spot superbly.

Barbie is a delightfully thoughtful and deep blockbuster, with all the trappings and sparkle to satisfy even the most aesthetically conscientious super-fan. For putting women – and Barbie – front and centre in 2023, it deserves all the success surely coming its way.

Barbie is out in UK cinemas on Friday, July 21.

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