Toy Story

"Barbenheimer" may have peaked weeks ago, but part of the bizarre double-feature meme has had true staying power: Barbie itself. When I caught the movie just before I left for Gen Con, I figured that my blog post about it would be old news by the time I returned and posted it. Instead, Barbie has topped the box office every week since its release, and is likely to be the biggest movie of the year. And while it's not likely to end up as my personal favorite of 2023 when all is said and done, I do think it's quite deserving of the Movie Everyone Sees mantle.

For one thing, it's very clever. Much has been written about how writer-director Greta Gerwig (along with co-writer and partner Noah Baumbach) crafted a script with surprising bite, given the need to appease a corporate overlord. More clever is how the movie pushes past the premise that easily would have been "enough": it's not just a story about fictional Barbie getting a rude awakening in the real world, but how the real world is then brought back to infect the fictional one. It's a bizzaro Wizard of Oz for the modern age.

Still more clever are the messages at play in the movie. Of course, proud feminist ideals are front and center, and have been the target of much performative ire from conservative sticks-in-the-mud. But the movie does not "wedge in" its messages of female empowerment, it makes them a part of the plot. And the movie doesn't shy away from the notion that Barbie-as-role-model has perhaps hurt young girls just as it's helped them. And it points out that patriarchy and toxic masculinity can be caustic and damaging to men and women alike. And it also manages to float a more subtle message about creativity: that once you create a thing and share it with the world, you can no longer fully control your creation

But mostly, it's funny. Perhaps the biggest weakness here is that star Margot Robbie, though perfectly doing everything the script asks of her and giving a fine performance, gets the movie stolen out from under her by basically everyone else in an excellent cast. America Ferrera gets the big, rallying speech at the movie's emotional core. Kate McKinnon gets to bring her specific brand of irreverent wit to a funny, flashy role. Michael Cera is perfectly cast for his milquetoast brand. Will Ferrell is at maximum Ferrell as he plants a flag atop "call me to be the villain in your toy movie" mountain. Helen Mirren gets to plant tongue firmly in cheek as a wry narrator. Half the cast of Sex Education is here just for fun, to shoot together between seasons.

And Ryan Gosling seems to be having the kind of anarchic fun usually reserved for Ryan Reynolds. In his role as Ken, he swings wildly from needy to pompous to clueless to awed. He sings. He dances. He does physical comedy, delivers ridiculous puns. He does everything to honestly earn a Best Actor nomination, if the Oscar voting body is cool enough to give him one (and isn't worried about the optics of Ken being the Oscar-nominated performance in the Barbie movie).

I may be overselling all that. It's actually a little hard to talk about the good things in Barbie without sounding like you're overselling it. The truth is perhaps not so much that the movie arrives as a one-of-a-kind triumph, but as a well-made and funny movie that stands on the shoulders of other influences that have come before. (Which Greta Gerwig herself has readily acknowledged.) I give it a B+. (Which, if you're keeping track and/or care, means I did like it better than Oppenheimer.) I would say you should go see it, but it seems like everyone has already gotten that message.