Am I Now A Barbie Girl?

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Not quite fantastic, but there is plenty of plastic

Score: 8/10

          Am I weeks late? I’d like to think this is me being fashionably late, but I’m finally ready to say let’s go party. And for those wondering how to properly perform Barbenheimer, Oppenheimer first is in fact the correct answer. Yes, it’s the better movie, but that’s not the reason why. You need to fully focus for 3 hours for that film and then hours more to process. And with that drained energy, the perfect pick-me-up is this ridiculous, low brain power, and really, really funny movie in Barbie.

          I was able to shut off my mind for this one, and it felt great. But don’t take it being a dumb movie to be the same thing as being made by dumb people because that’s not the case at all. First, you have writer/director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird and Little Women) and even a writing credit for Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) too. Headlining in the starring role and producing the film is the extremely talented Margot Robbie, and you have quite the cast with Ryan Gosling putting in an incredible Ken performance and the likes of Kate McKinnon, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, America Ferrera, and Will Ferrell.

          Almost shot-for-shot does this film start off with a hilarious spoofing of 2001: A Space Odyssey. There’s sprinklings of many other films throughout as well like The Matrix and the inevitable similarities of The Lego Movie. What I’m getting at is even though this movie has grossed over $1 billion, it didn’t do so by being put together with leftover toy parts just to scrape some coins. Talented people put together an end product with some of the best production design this year, a funny script, and a clear directorial vision assembled by the cast that is all too willing to make themselves look like fools in the name of entertainment.

          I think one reason I really enjoyed this movie is it has the same brand of humor as The Lego Movie. It’s both really dumb in a witty way (like Barbie’s morning routine includes breakfast that she only pretends to eat… hmm... almost like someone playing with a doll hmmm), and there aren’t any real lulls in the humor either. Although I can’t personally verify all the Barbie toy references throughout, I luckily had a couple friends with me that could attest to owning different sets that were shown. The film is brisk enough coming in under 2 hours, but one of my critiques is that it still could’ve been 10 minutes shorter. There’s a few monologues that creep just a bit too far into preachy territory, and by the end of them I was ready to go back to the irreverent humor that brought me to the theater in the first place.

          The other aspect of what the film does so right with the humor is play with stereotypes. And that was actually quite refreshing. What we most frequently laugh at is what we can relate to, and the satirical nature of the film is certainly over the top, but in order for the humor to land there still needs to be enough of a truth that people understand and accept. This is highlighted quite well when boy toy Gosling joins Barbie in the real world and starts discovering the patriarchy. Did this film say patriarchy too often? Sure, but that doesn’t discredit how funny it still is to see Gosling get all macho over trucks, beers, and playing sports.

          Gosling gets two musical numbers, both being my favorite parts of the film to watch, and I do fully expect “I’m Just Ken” to be nominated as best original song. It also brought me endless joy to see the likes of Gosling and Simu Liu perform such silly choreography knowing that Gosling comes from a dancing background and Liu performed some terrific stunts for Marvel. Again, I think the film tried just a bit hard with its emotional moments, but underlying it all is the aspect that life is in fact tough and not perfect, but everyone has worth—and playing with Barbie can be a suitable outlet for some people. Some people not including me of course… right, right?!?

          This is a very light PG-13 movie, but there is still a couple jokes that justify the rating. I’m not here to say what movies are suitable for your kids, but this movie is suitable for the Gillipedia. I got lost in the pink sauce and had a really enjoyable time.