Review: Barbie

Written by Jordan Davies

Honestly, I haven’t felt this pressured into liking something since Lil Nas X.

And despite having severe Barbie fatigue from promotions that began months in advance in anticipation of the SAG-AFTRA strike (according to speculations by union president, Fran Drescher), I went to see Barbie with an open mind, ready to be entertained and enlightened.

Barbie is a film about Margot Robbie playing Barbie. Per the trailer (so you don’t need to worry about spoilers), Margot lives happily in her own world until her feet get flat and she starts thinking about death (highly relatable). Then Kate McKinnon as Kate McKinnon explains to us all that Margot needs to go on a journey for answers, Ken tags along and a wild adventure kicks off exploring themes of feminism and the human condition.
There’s heaps more to it but I’m gonna stick to the things that are mentioned in the trailer.

Let’s start with what all reviewers have so far agreed: the craft is phenomenal. There are so many little details on screen that are pretty funny to see play out – even if you didn’t grow up with a Barbie, it’s still quite novel seeing all the props, sets and outfits come to life. A lot of time, energy and skill went into creating a truly remarkable Barbieland. Almost as much as the time and energy spent showing off the sexy 2024 Chevrolet Trailblazer in the real world!

The topics of feminism, the patriarchy and the human condition are met with fun and irreverence because Margot and Ken are dolls trying to make sense of the “real” world! A joke about high heels being uncomfortable and dropping the WB logo into the backdrop – lol.
For a while, it’s all crazy-fun and meta absurdity until the quips about the patriarchy become repetitive and the absurdity becomes a little distracting and confusing.

At this point, it stops feeling like a movie about Margot trying to find her way, and starts feeling more like an essay about society – which is less fun. It’s a shame because while some of the points are smart, pithy and touching, the bulk of the commentary doesn’t really have an opinion, ya know. They’re just everyday observations about gender inequality that were being called out years ago.

For what I think the film’s director, Greta Gerwig, was trying to achieve, I wanna compare Barbie to a truly inspiring feminist film, Mean Girls.

Interestingly, Mean Girls was born out of the ideas in ‘Queen Bees and Wannabes’ a parenting book by Rosalind Wiseman that discusses the behaviours of girls in high school, how they form cliques etc. Tina Fey, the writer of Mean Girls, was able to turn those ideas and observations into a satirical and deeply feminist story about a girl going to high school for the first time. And that’s the kind of set-up it felt like Gerwig was going for by unpacking the ideas surrounding the now problematic Barbie doll in today’s society.

Unfortunately, the difference between the two films is that 1. Mean Girls shows the satire while Barbie explains the satire, and 2. Mean Girls is funny.

There’s a lot of other stuff in there too, but I don’t wanna spoil it for ya.

In other news, Ryan Gozzo is absolutely a standout, probably because he’s the only person not playing himself. I think it’s worth noting that while the Barbie press tour was a super creative feat of endurance and will probably generate a lot of interest in the film, it makes it really hard to not see Margot on screen. But that could be intentional because there’s a very meta Margot Robbie joke in there too. I’d also like to congratulate half the cast of Sex Education on their transition into the American market now that the show’s next season will be its last.

Finally, in terms of the film’s success, I hope Barbie and Oppenheimer are well received and Hollywood remembers how much audiences froth fresh ideas. It feels like forever since we’ve been genuinely curious about what we’re going to see when we sit down in the freezing cold cinema, ya know.
Like, we know what we’re going to get with any Marvel film (green screens and that tired brand of Taika Waititi humour), Mission: Impossible films, another Indiana Jones, and why on earth you’d pay to watch a shot-for-shot CGI remake of a childhood classic is beyond me.

So, whether you’re a Barbie fan or not, it’s exciting to watch a movie and wonder: am I going to like this?

I can’t say if you will because I never got into Lil Nas X.