Reviewing the highest grossing Warner Bros. movie of all time

Now that the dust has settled on the Barbie phenomenon, I feel I can collect my thoughts on this outrageously successful film. Not only was it the most viewed, but it seemed to be the most talked about film in recent memory. Literally everyone had some kind of opinion on it, and felt the need to share it. Whether you thought it was capitalist propaganda, designed to make us hate men, a paean to White Feminism, or just an exceptional piece of light entertainment, it felt as if you had to have something to say about the film.

Well, now it’s my turn! My main takeaway from the film was that both those who loved it and those who hated it were expecting too much of it. Despite its riotous success, it did not have the power many people were assigning to it. Here are my thoughts on its pros and cons.

The Pros

• Ryan Gosling. One thing I think critics and cinema goers alike got right about the film was that Gosling was one of its highlights. He captured the campy fun the film required – he seemed to know exactly what kind of film he was in, even if the audience didn’t always share his confidence. I saw many people suggest his performance was Oscar worthy, which I think was a bit of a stretch (I don’t think he had enough to work with for this), but it was still the stand out performance in the film.
• The diverse cast. It was truly lovely to see a film with such a diverse cast, even if they weren’t all used to greatest effect. That such an incredibly successful movie featured a trans actress (in the wonderful Hari Nef) at a time when trans people are facing such a horrific rise in hatred and discrimination is a really heart-warming thing.
• The songs/music. I’m not generally that into musicals (with the exception of ‘The Sound of Music’ of course!), but the songs, particularly the musical style ones, were great, and really added something. With the level of marketing put into this film, including the songs, it would be surprising if they didn’t go viral, but in the case of Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance the night away’ and ‘I’m just Ken’, this felt deserved.
• It was surprisingly funny. While some of the jokes fell slightly flat for me just from having been overused in the trailer, there were some genuinely funny moments, and I laughed a lot more than I expected.

The Cons

• Shallow social justice. As I said up top, one can’t really go into a film with a background like this and expect depth. No matter who you choose to direct, a film about a toy, funded by that toy company, with a historically questionable understanding of femininity and diversity, is not going to lead the way on feminist thought. While it was refreshing to see these ideas explored in such a mainstream film – really it doesn’t get much more mainstream – there were times when it felt very shoehorned. It was the kind of simplistic white feminism you used to find on the internet at least a decade ago, and it felt like it was just being used to defend Mattel, rather than due to any genuine desire to explore. America Ferrara’s Gloria has a speech which isn’t without its rousing elements, but echoes much of the light feminist readings we’ve seen circulating in Instagram stories, and on Facebook and Tumblr before it, for years (and indeed the film sparked this all over again!). Given the flimsiness of the film’s feminism, it might have been better to just skip some aspects/lines/stretches of awkward explanation and focus on what made the film fun.
• Muddled plot. The film had the feel of two (at least) scripts inexpertly combined into one. This is clearest when you consider who the antagonist is. At the start, it seems that the plot is going to be fairly straightforward (but at least easy to follow), with Barbie trying to reach America Ferrara’s Gloria, whilst the chief executives of Mattel try to thwart her. Then there seems to be a realisation that Mattel can’t be the bad guys, so it pivots to an alternative plot where, quite bizarrely, Gloria and her daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) join Barbie back in Barbie World, to find it destroyed by the Kens, Ken having discovered the patriarchy on his trip to the real world. Even then, the film doesn’t really want to cast Ken as the villain, so the whole things feels a bit directionless. It is vexing that the Barbies want a return just to women ruling, without recognising that Ken’s deserve political rights too – although here I’m venturing into taking it too seriously. It’s all part of the simplistic Girl Power feminism the film is best at.
• Greta Gerwig. This maybe sounds a little bit harsh, but one of the disappointments of the film was the director herself. I think this is really because many of us expected more from her than we got. Some have rallied against cries of ‘selling out’, but it’s hard to see Gerwig’s involvement as anything less than this. Hailed as an art-house darling for ‘Frances Ha’ (I am seemingly the last person left who still hasn’t seen this!), she perhaps gained a reputation that wasn’t quite in line with the kinds of films she wants to make. Female-led they are, art house they perhaps are not. This is my third film of hers that I’m writing about, and it’s hard not to see it as a side-step from her previous efforts (you can read my ‘Lady Bird’ review here, and Little Women review here) in ambition. Although they share an interest in women’s experiences, and a kind of facile feminism, the main hallmark that links them is not thematic or intellectual, but rather aesthetic. It was perhaps not quite so clear in ‘Lady Bird’, but ‘Little Women’ demonstrated an obsession with achieving a certain ‘look’ which is taken even further in ‘Barbie’. This is one of the film’s strengths – creating a total world which many people put a lot of thought into creating. But for those who hoped Gerwig would bring a more thoughtful, counter-culture tone to ‘Barbie’, it would be hard not to be disappointed that this is the main signature of her involvement.

All in all, ‘Barbie’ is a fun movie which at times takes itself too seriously. But as long as you don’t join in, you’ll have a good time watching it.

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What did you think of ‘Barbie’? How do you think it compares with Gerwig’s other films? And just how much are you dreading the foretold Mattel Cinematic Universe?