Barbie (2023)

As I took my seat in the front row of a Monday night screening of Barbie, a woman a few rows back who was part of a gaggle of thirty-year-old females, offered "What bloke comes to watch Barbie on his own?" to her friends.

I'm not sure.

A film fan perhaps? A male critic? A Father wanting to know the suitability of the film for his daughter? A fan of Gerwig and Baumbach's previous work? Someone curious about what is certain to be one of the years' biggest films if not the biggest? Someone who actively enjoys sole cinema trips?

All invalid answers, I'm sure. And not that it annoyed me. Ahem.

It's a while since I've been to a packed screening, but this was one, and it was great to see so many people getting into the spirit, dressing up in pink, coming in groups, and almost certainly a whole host of people who don't visit the cinema often, which will lead to astronomical box office revenue for the film.

But is Barbie any good?

Well with Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach scripting (and Gerwig directing), it would take some effort to not be really. The vibrancy, world building and tongue in cheek humour (whilst also firmly and repeatedly stamping down a valiant message about male patriarchy) is hugely impressive, and there are some excellent performances and joyful cameos to boot.

There has been a small backlash against the film by people (male and female) that claim Barbie is 'anti-male', but this is utter nonsense; the film bashes its male characters repeatedly as the plot centers on gender inequality and consumerism, but to argue that the film's representation of men is derogatory is to miss the point completely.

Let's also not forget that Noah Baumbach directed Marriage Story (2019) for goodness sake, a heart-breaking account of a marriage breaking down from both directions, not some attack on the man for being a toxic bastard.

'Stereotypical Barbie' is wonderfully captured by Margot Robbie, and Ryan Gosling also nails the representation of Ken; indeed, Gerwig draws excellent displays from the huge cast, although the human family drama aspect of the film with America Ferrera as the Mum and Ariana Greenblatt as her daughter Sasha feels a little forced. This dynamic also draws one of the film's more baffling moments as Mother and Daughter travel to Barbieland. Sasha asks "What about Dad?" (it was a shock at this stage to realise she had one on the scene) at which point it cuts to her Dad sat on a sofa at home learning Spanish on Duolingo, leading to an eruption of laughter from the audience, mocking his attempts.

Ferrera is of Honduran descent, and in the film, we understand that her and Sasha can speak Spanish, so isn't her American Dad attempting to learn the language a really nice thing for him to do?

Unless the underlying point here is that not ALL men are bastards, but that suggests that Gerwig and Baumbach felt they needed to insert it for people too stupid to understand the film's subtlety, which seems highly unlikely. But with the packed auditorium's response, who knows.

It seems churlish to suggest not being a woman or a mother myself, but Barbie really seemed as if it struck a chord with mothers in the audience; after a speech given by Ferrera's Gloria about how it's impossible to be a woman/mother there were several cheers and rounds of applause.

There are a couple of standout moments in particular; the opening with Helen Mirren's voice over setting the scene as a parody of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) unfurls, introducing Mattel's product (they don't escape mocking either), and then later on a truly hilarious advert for 'Depressed Barbie'; funny because it's mocking the self obsessed narcissists in the audience (male and female) who themselves are laughing because they feel the film is speaking to them, and feel a connection.

Barbie is going to do serious, serious business (it already has) and it deserves to. Of the summer's three major blockbusters (with Oppenheimer and Mission Impossible) I'd be astonished if it doesn't make the most of all three, although it is my least favourite of them. There's an enormous amount to admire, yet I didn't warm to it as much as I'd hoped. But that's an issue with me rather than the film.

Does that matter? Not a jot. If- and I hope it's not as big an if as I fear- Greta Gerwig's Barbie leads audiences who've never experienced Gerwig's work to check out Damsels in Distress (2011) or more pertinently the wonderful, the sublime, the fantastic, the near perfect Frances Ha (2012) [if you like Barbie you WILL like Frances Ha] then it is a triumph for the ages, if only for this reason. 7.3/10