The supporting cast and delightful cameos round out the fun of Barbie. McKinnon brings her style to Weird Barbie, while Will Farrell does his usual thing as CEO of Mattel. Think Lord Business from The LEGO Movie with a pink tie for the CEO role. Neither performance is a stretch out of their comfort zones, but both are exactly what they should be. Helen Mirren’s narration provides a warm guide through the whole journey. The experience of the film is like going to a Women’s march that turns into a big party with a great DJ.
That Gerwig, and co-writer Noah Baumbach, were able to get Mattel to go along with this is mind-boggling. The filmmakers wrapped their morality play in a sweet pink candy coating of commercialism, embracing the nostalgia of Barbie while skewering the negative unintended consequences of the doll’s popularity. While Mattel did change with the times and gave Barbie every profession imaginable as well as a certain amount of racial and body-type diversity, she’s also represented an unattainable (unless you’re Margot Robbie) ideal of physical perfection.
“…will not sit well with the ‘anti-woke’ crowd.”
As such, Barbie will not sit well with the “anti-woke” crowd. The strong pro-feminist message and the pure contempt for patriarchy are going to hurt those feelings, which is just an added bonus on top of being wildly entertaining. The film is already evoking squeaks from right-wing conservatives over the casting of trans woman Hari Nef as a Doctor Barbie and over perceived LGBTQ+ messaging. At the screening I attended, which was mostly women (and at least one drag queen), the crowd erupted in cheers at key points.
There was some concern with Baumbach as co-writer since he generally focuses on dark sarcasm and angst. However, longtime collaborator Gerwig keeps him inside the guardrails, and the result is neatly balanced. For those who don’t care as much about the moral of the story, there are many ways to enjoy this film. It’s a good time, and one can easily just vibe on the music and color palette, the goofy humor, and an amusing nostalgic catalog of Mattel toys and accessories without investing too much brain power into the social justice commentary.
It’s easy to predict Gerwig’s continued career success in the wake of this accomplishment. She’s already been tapped by Netflix to direct films from The Chronicles of Narnia. If this film does well, it could represent a shot across the bow of the Marvel MCU, which is getting a little long in the tooth at this point. We could be looking at trading comic superheroes for nostalgic toys. Bad Robot is looking to create a Hot Wheels movie, and more toys-to-screen projects are in the pipeline. Marvel, Mattel is coming for you. It’s not a stretch to imagine there might be a Broadway musical version of Barbie at some point. For this summer, Gerwig’s film manages to be great fun, shine a reminiscent light on the cultural past, and speak with a social conscience all at once.
"…stacks up current pop culture, heavy nostalgia, and social commentary..."
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I love that Film Threat has a politically diverse set of reviewers so when I say this it is not because this reviewer is clearly biased in his opinion. My issue is with the fact that the review is not really a review. There is almost nothing her that is talking about the film itself. Most of this “review” is discussing things outside of the film, celebrating the feminist message. I have to say I am disappointed. At least justify the elements of the movie that stood out to you as supporting that message. Hopefully this reviewer can take this to heart and do a professional critique of the film itself, tell me the pros and cons, and justify the 8 out of 10.
I won’t defend the review. I said what I said. BARBIE is not deeply intellectual cinema… it’s fair to say that in this case the message IS the film. If you take away the feminist core of the film, what you have left is a lot of pink, great performances, and fun music (which I said in the review). It’s still a good time. If anyone only focused on those fluffy superficial elements, she would still get full value for her movie-going dollar. The movie is fun. That said, for anyone who objects to a fantasy about a female-oriented toy that becomes a celebration of and boost for female empowerment… well, this is not going to be the film for you. Film is an emotional medium. When I look around me in a theater auditorium and see women openly weeping from joy at being seen and heard in a major motion picture… that film is clearly a success. With opening weekend box office north of $155M and Rotten Tomatoes aggregate score of 90% for critics and 90% for audience response… this film touched a lot of people.
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