When I first heard that Greta Gerwig would be (co) writing and directing the Barbie movie, I was surprised and amussed, what would that even be like? I figured it would do okay and be smarter then it needed to be, I hadn't anticipated it would be the colossal hit that it is, a moment defining movie, or be as layered as it is.
The plot is there is a "Barbie World" parallel to "our world" and that the Mattel Corporation is well aware of this. Margot Robbie, in a case of fated casting, plays a Barbie whose natural rhythms are disrupted, manifesting in the form of burnt waffles and thoughts of death. She is being affected symbioticlly by the melancholy of the owner of her plastic "real world" counterpart. In order to get her perfect life back she must journey into the human world and cheer up her owner, Ryan Gossling's Ken stowes along, hijinks ensue. Boardly speaking that is the plot.
At a certain point in the movie I found myself thinking things had gotten surprisingly heavy. I later heard someone describe the film as a Gender Studies 101 course in movie form. There is truth to that, which is much of why the film has been somewhat polarizing on our nation's Right flank. 'Barbie' does a better job, on seemingly every level, of doing what 'Don't Worry Darling' was trying to do last year, explore the internal and sociological conflicts regarding the roles of women in society.
While I think the film can be appreciated in the escapist sense, it is funny, there is alot of substance here as well, a density that I found a little disorienting. There are issues, particularly in the final act, thought for the most part the seemingly lose structure works to the movies benefit. While I'm clearly not the target audience I enjoyed it, though I do wonder what younger viewers would make of it, how much would the themes of adult angest register? There is pathos in the plastic. ***1/2
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