Barbie

Director: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, Simu Liu, Ariana Greenblatt, Michael Cera, Helen Mirren, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey
Running Time: 114 min.
Rating: PG-13 

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

The toughest challenge facing a film based on Barbie is convincing viewers to set aside their worst preconceived notions, some of which may seem justified. As a concept, there's little reason to believe anyone other than Mattel and Warner Bros. benefits from bringing the most famous doll in contemporary culture to the big screen. And there are countless ways for this to go wrong, making all that trepidation understandable. But co-writer/director Greta Gerwig gets this, incorporating those potential criticisms into the plot and boldly addressing them head on.

The script stays about four or five steps ahead, disarming reluctant audiences by deconstructing the entire Barbie myth and using it to convey bigger ideas about gender, conformity, aging, masculinity, femininity, capitalism, consumerism and social change. And if that reads more like a syllabus than an easily accessible mainstream blockbuster based on a toy line, it's not. This still manages to be ridiculously fun, with a subversive, self-deprecating sense of humor to go along with the surprising performances and ambitiously elaborate comedic sequences. 

Closer to The Truman Show than The Lego Movie, it's obvious from its opening 2001: a Space Odyssey spoof and accompanying Helen Mirren narration that this will be something. We haven't a clue exactly what, though that becomes part of the charm. Immersing us in a universe that visually astounds and serves as the backdrop around which its entire meta fantasy revolves, Gerwig not only conceives a populist film, but a smart one that's worth revisiting to fully appreciate all it has to offer. 

"Stereotypical" Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives in Barbieland, a brightly colored community inhabited by various versions of Barbies and Kens, some current and others discontinued. While Kens spend most of their days at the beach hanging out, Barbies hold prestigious occupations like doctors, scientists, lawyers and politicians, garnering greater respect within society. One particular Ken (Ryan Gosling) exists solely to gain the attention and affections of Barbie, who appears uninterested in taking their relationship to another level. But when Barbie awakens in her Dreamhouse like every other morning, she realizes that something's gone horribly wrong. 

After coming down with inexplicable symptoms such as a sudden fear of death, flat feet and cellulite, Barbie seeks out disfigured outcast Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), who reveals the only way to cure this is by traveling to the real world to find the child playing with her. So with Ken in tow, Barbie travels to Venice Beach, California to locate tween girl Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), whose mom Gloria (America Ferrera) is a Mattel executive. But as Barbie suffers from serious culture shock and the company's bumbling CEO (Will Ferrell) plots to send her back to Barbieland, Ken picks up some damaging real world philosophies that threaten their happy community.

From the start you can tell things aren't what they appear in this seemingly utopian environment, and by the time Barbie hops in her convertible and boat for answers, the gamut of possibilities Gerwig and Noah Baumbach bring to the table start playing out. Accompanying the outrageous scenes of Barbie and Ken's attempts to assimilate into real life are crippling emotional blows to her entire sense of identity and purpose. But at least she has one, which is more than you can say for Ken, who tires of being an appendage and yearns to reinvent himself.   

Barbie realizing she doesn't have legions of female fans lined up to greet and thank her is a harsh wake-up call, but even harsher are the very valid reasons why. Spanning decades as a corporate product that's reflected both Mattel's whims and the values of those who purchased her over generations, she has a complicated history. The landscape's evolved since 1959, with the company often playing catch up, as many legitimate critiques of the toy line end up forming the script's foundation. So does the strained mother-daughter relationship Barbie lands right in the middle of, connecting like the best Toy Story installments do by bottling up nostalgic themes of outgrowing childhood. 

It's fittingly ironic this is what's garnered Margot Robbie her strongest notices and biggest box office when she's made a career cleverly evading inferior parts that could have resembled superficially written versions of Barbie. But this only makes it easier to respect everything she does to humanize a character who's also a knowing commentary on the actress playing it, as Mirren's narrator memorably acknowledges. Such a physical match for Barbie that they actually place the word "stereotypical" in front of her name, Robbie makes this a referendum on the doll's entire existence, shaken out of her complacency and contentment to see the world through real eyes rather than those of a billion dollar corporation.

If Barbie must now account for unfamiliar feelings of embarrassment and humiliation, Ken makes a different kind of discovery about himself that goes beyond pining after her. This epiphany results in the film's funniest montage, as images of horses, American flags and Sly Stallone flash before his eyes, planting the narcissistic seeds for a newfound patriarchal obsession. From there, Gosling's turn only grows more wildly unhinged, reaching its pinnacle with his show stopping "It's Ken" musical number. As a power struggle develops between the sexes, the onus is on Barbie to prevent the only home she knows from backsliding into Don't Worry Darling's retro prison. But it comes with the recognition that their former situation wasn't exactly the picture of equality either.

Nearly everyone else also get their opportunities to shine, managing to convey uniquely distinctive personalities amidst an entertaining assembly line of Kens and Barbies. America Ferrara and Ariana Greenblatt really deliver as the mother/daughter duo with a relatably strained relationship, even as the former is called upon to carry a lot of the script's trickiest material toward the end with a hugely important monologue. 

More recognizable names like Ferrell and McKinnon have rarely been used as purposefully, including a hilariously deadpan Michael Cera who steals every scene he's in as the ostracized and ignored Allan. A great Rhea Perlman plays what's best described as an essential mystery part that cuts to the story's core. It's brief, but she makes the most of every minute, radiating a warmth and sarcastic authenticity that helps sell the film's pivotal moment.

An elaborate musical beach battle squashes any lingering doubts Gerwig can't hold this all together, doing it in just under two hours to boot. And in constructing a Mattel playset come to life, production designer Sarah Greenwood's Barbieland creation is as fun to take in as the characters themselves, ensuring that the purely frivolous fluff everyone assumed this would be can still co-exist alongside biting satire.  

Even when slightly losing its grip as subtext becomes glaringly literal messaging, there's an almost immediate recovery, leading to a final act that skillfully ties all the preceding themes and ideas together. It comes as a relief in a year we've been pummeled by films about popular products, showing just how hard it is to walk that tightrope of not desecrating the brand while placating audiences weary of a feature length commercial. But what's still most mind boggling about the entire phenomenon is that when Gerwig was hired to make Barbie movie, this somehow ended up being her response.