Writer-director Greta Gerwig, fresh off the back-to-back successes of Lady Bird and Little Women (both are worth seeing if you haven't), ventures into the realm of the IP blockbuster with Barbie.
Margot Robbie plays Stereotypical Barbie, who lives a life of bliss in the matriarchal Barbie Land with a variety of other Barbies and Kens. One Ken in particular (Ryan Gosling) is in love with her, but she doesn't pay him much notice. Suddenly, Barbie becomes burdened with thoughts of mortality and other mysterious ailments (cold water from a shower, flat feet).
After learning that her melancholy is the result of a psychic link between her and a mother (America Ferrera) saddened by a distant relationship with her tween daughter (Ariana Greenblatt) and frustrated by her job at Mattel, Robbie's Barbie journeys to the real world with Gosling's Ken in tow. Panicked Mattel executives (led by Will Ferrell) try to capture Barbie and restore order. Barbie discovers the real world isn't as kind to women as Barbie Land and Ken revels in the newfound respect he feels in the real world.
There are definitely some funny culture clash moments in Barbie (and the final gag of the film is great). But the second half of the movie is too heavy on speeches and musical numbers. The speeches are unnecessary; even the most vapid Ken or Barbie could get the gist of what Gerwig (who co-wrote the script with Noah Baumbach) is going for. The first time Gosling sings a Matchbox 20 song is amusing, the second time not so much.
That said, there are also some moving moments in the film's opening half - an interaction between Barbie and an elderly woman sitting by herself at a bus stop, a montage of a mother and daughter gradually drifting apart, a scene where Barbie sits in a park and just observes people experiencing the full range of human emotions both good and bad.
Barbie is a mixed bag (or box, if you will), but the packed theater I saw it with seemed to enjoy it. It's also been very nice to see how the internet, which can occasionally be used for good, turned the juxtaposition of Barbie and Oppenheimer opening on the same day into a meme and likely lured lots of people off their couches and into theaters as a result.
