The movie starts out, logically, with Barbie, played by Margot Robbie as “Stereotypical Barbie”—the gorgeous but feckless basic version of the doll who exists mainly to look pretty–which she does. When the Stereotypical Barbie starts experiencing thoughts of Death and cellulite, Greta Gerwig’s movie turns into a reverse of the Wizard of Oz. Barbie journeys to the Real World from the perfect pink Barbie Land and ends up at the Mattel headquarters in Los Angeles trying to solve her problems. Barbie is joined by her uninvited boyfriend, Ken (Ryan Gosling), to investigate a tear in the fabric between Fantasy and Reality. Critiques of capitalism and gender roles follow. I’m sure Gerwig’s references to 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Matrix will go over the heads of the younger members of the movie audience.
Barbie discovers the girl (America Ferrara) who played with her as a child–now grown up and working for Mattel. Meanwhile, Ken returns to Barbie Land with knowledge of male Patriarchy and transforms Barbie Land to Kendom where the Kens now rule. Despite the wackiness of Will Ferrell as the CEO of Mattel, and Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie, the sluggish plot and insider references fail to make this a Fun Barbie movie. GRADE: B-
Ah, well, it might make for a decent-enough timewaster in eventual broadcast runs.
Todd, Mattel is hoping BARBIE triggers a buying binge.
That picture of you two — for a second I thought it was Robbie and Gosling. The resemblance is uncanny!
Dan, Margot Robbie looks fabulous and Gosling sure looks ripped with washboard abs. Diane and I only have pink going for us!
Great pic! I assume that tomorrow you’re seeing “Oppenheimer”—and your “Barbenheimer” weekend will be complete.
Deb, Patrick is going to see OPPENHEIMER. I’m content to wait until it shows up on a streaming service. I’ve read several books about Oppenheimer and The Bomb. We’re still living with the threat that we will destroy civilization–and maybe the entire planet–with nuclear weapons.
I have nothing against this movie but I wasn’t impressed by either of Gerwig’s previous directing efforts and the pre-release affection for this movie has been so ridiculously extreme, particularly in the media, that I strongly suspect a lot of writers were going to rave about this movie regardless of its quality. I have a feeling your review and letter grade are more accurate than anything else out there.
Byron, I think Greta Gerwing took BARBIE to some dark places. Younger audience members are not going to “get” the inside sneaky humor or the pop culture references. At one point in BARBIE I was hoping that Margot Robbie would start to show some Harley Quinn tendencies…
I’d allowed myself to hope you might skip this.
Michael, the things I do for Love…
From your review and others, I’m not sure a “fun Barbie movie” was intended in the first place. Would someone please pay Will Ferrell and Kate McKinnon to retire?
Fred, Will Ferrell and Kate McKinnon were supposed to provide “Comic Relief” to a movie with some serious political and social issues.
I see you really tried to get into the mood. I am seeing Oppenheimer tonight and Barbie on Monday. I may have to wear sunglasses to protect my eyes in both movies.
Patti, the AMC Theater parking lot was almost full when we arrived last night. We ended up getting the last parking space. I have NEVER seen so many cars there in the 25 or so years we’ve been going to AMC. With BARBIE, OPPENHEIMER, and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE all drawing large audiences–our showing of BARBIE was completely sold out–movie theater owners have to be rejoicing. I’ll be interested to read your reviews of OPPENHEIMER and BARBIE.
Very hard pass. Gosling looks stupid in that wig.
I agree on what younger Barbie fans will miss. Also, I keep reading endless numbers of articles about how you should see these – “definitely see Oppenheimer first” – and wonder, what will anyone who loves the Barbie movie do for three endless hours of Oppenheimer? Why would they want to, other than TikTok and every other meme in the universe tells them they HAVE to see both this weekend!
Hollywood hype at its most desperate and pathetic. The worst to me was Tom Cruise insisting that everyone knows the he bought his tickets to both movies… as if Tommy EVER bought a ticket for a movie and went in to see it like we ordinary mortals. Yeah, Tommy, real convincing. How much are you getting paid like all the other “influencers” to hype this crap?
No, this is nothing but Hollywood’s latest (last?) desperate attempt to do whatever it takes to get people back in theaters by artificially creating an “event” that can’t be missed. FOMO? Ha. The days of TITANIC selling out every show for weeks are never coming back and neither is the audience. Young people stream movies in their tablets or phones.
Jeff, the hype for BARBIE and OPPENHEIMER is working. The AMC Theater parking lot was completely full–a first! Diane and her friend Johanna liked BARBIE more than I did. I’d say 80% of the AMC audience for BARBIE was female. There sure was a lot of pink! And, I was the only one wearing an N95 mask. Katie saw BARBIE at a 9:30 A.M. showing in Boston…and loved it!
Jackie believes that everyone who wants to see Barbie will see it this weekend, it will make a lot of money, then…it will quickly fall off the radar. We are not talking a long-term TITANIC here.
Jeff, Jackie is right. BARBIE is a niche movie and Barbie fans will flock to see it now. Then, attendance will fall off a cliff. OPPENHEIMER will do steady business and probably win BEST PICTURE.
Jackie wants to know: did Diane buy you that shirt especially for the movie?
Jeff, tell Jackie that pink is my favorite color. Diane had several pink shirts to choose from! And, of course, Diane has a lot of pink, too. But she rejected her pink chinos for this event.
It is ages since I saw a film in a theatre. I like how you two got into the mood.
Neeru, my wife is a big Barbie fan so pink was the color of the day! Diane still has some of the original Barbie dolls (but not the boxes) in mint condition.
My girls were big Barbie fans when they were young but I doubt they’ll bother with this inane cash grab!
Bob, you and your girls would love Margot Robbie’s sensational performance in BARBIE!
The streets of my town were filled with people in pink. I agree with your B-. It was just too didactic for me. It needed to be more fun. Although the acting was great and it looks splendid. She was born to play Barbie and Gosling was very funny. And it was too long. It should have been 90 minutes. Guess what though, I am seeing it again today. Maybe I will see some new pluses.
Patti, glad we agree on BARBIE. I confess: I’m surprised BARBIE made $155 million over the weekend. Amazing!