Movie Breakdown: Barbie

Pre-Screening Stance:

Barbie is seemingly most of the world’s most anticipated film of 2023. For me, it’s definitely way, way up there, but when any movie has a hype train off the rails and marketing that knows no bounds, I naturally start to temper my expectations. Here’s hoping it lives up to all the fuss.

Post-Screening Ramble:

Barbie is not the greatest film of all time. Sorry, world. It is, however, pretty good. The story begins in Barbie Land, where Barbie (Margot Robbie) and every other Barbie-related creation from Mattel resides. In this world, the Barbies hold every significant position in society, and things are just about perfect. One day, Barbie begins to have some intrusive thoughts, which forces her to have an encounter with Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), who tells her that she’s become emotionally intertwined with someone in the real world and she must travel there to fix the issue. Barbie is not pumped about this task, but she accepts it and sets off … with a surprise partner in Ken (Ryan Gosling). What she discovers isn’t what she (or Ken) expects.

For the first two acts of Barbie, I was entirely swept up in it. The film is very light on its feet and absolutely delivers what everyone – I think – is hoping to get out of it. All of the Barbie-related items are funny and clever, the performances are a delight (Robbie and Gosling couldn’t be better), the soundtrack bumps, and the movie looks stellar. It’s very much a wonderfully crafted effort from writer/director Greta Gerwig, who leans on the Barbie nostalgia just enough while also putting forth something that feels very fresh. Where Barbie kind of lost me though is in the third act. It’s not that it’s bad, I just didn’t think it really stuck the landing. The film starts out so bright and engaging, and I was so excited to see where it was going to go with it all, and then it gets a basic, clean, and somewhat rushed-feeling wrap, and that’s that. Again, it’s not like the movie entirely craters at the finish line or something, I just thought it was building to something more. Maybe it’ll hit better for me on a second viewing.

I can’t imagine that any of you don’t already have tickets for Barbie, so I don’t need to tell you to go and see it. I will note though that it might be a good idea to lightly dial down your expectations. The film hits theaters this Friday, July 21.

One Last Thought:

As a big fan of Cheers, it made me really happy when Rhea Pearlman popped up in this movie.