BARBIE

An excellent summer blockbuster filled with gutbusting giggles and gobs and gobs of gratuitous girl power.

Barbie isn’t for boys. I don’t know if anyone ever implicitly stated this to me as a child but it was as intrinsically understood as the earth being round and the sky being blue. While this is an egregious and blatant example of the absurdity of gender labeling, after seeing Greta Gerwig’s new Barbie film I don’t think it’s all that off base. Barbie-the film, the doll, the pop culture icon-is NOT for boys.

And that is ok. Boys can still enjoy the film. I did. Boys can still play with the doll. I did. (Not near as much as I’d have liked but I took every chance I could take.) But Barbie was created to show little girls everything a girl could do or be or dream. Not all art is made for all people. Barbie was made for girls.

And these girls are on fire, most of all Margot Robbie. The actors I love most are the ones that can make gigantic, kinetic choices while remaining truthful and ultimately, believable. Margot Robbie is precisely this kind of actor. She’s perfect in this. Period. She’s everything you expect from Barbie but it is the constantly unexpected moments, some hilarious, some heartbreaking but all so deeply and intelligently presented that prove she really understands the assignment. I’d say it’s a career making turn if it wasn’t Robbie’s eightieth breakthrough performance. Her performance alone is worth seeing the movie.

It’s girls night every night and Barbie’s female supporting cast are the life of this party. America Ferrara is charmingly relatable as the story’s human protagonist. Her relationship with daughter Ariana Greenblatt feels authentic and provides the majority audience demographic of mommies and their progeny a recognizable on screen facsimile. Kate McKinnon is basically typecast as Weird Barbie, her oddball brand of comedy is perfectly suited to the bizarre and wackadoo role. Issa Rae gets in some legit laughs as President Barbie and Rhea Pearlman is wonderful as Barbie creator Ruth Handler.

And then there’s the boys. Remember, Barbie isn’t for boys. And it especially is NOT for Will Farrell. Farrell is for Farrell, period, and he cannot help but impose his childish brand of imbecility on every role he plays. I have directed and worked alongside actors like Farrell, actors so convinced of their own genius that they are incapable of versatility or improvement. It’s exhausting. Will Farrell is exhausting. He nearly tanks what is an otherwise smart and savvy film like his selfish, self centered performances have done to many other films in the past.

Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach have crafted a clever, thoughtful, layered script. The dialogue is in turns sidesplittingly witty and sparsely insightful, the concept is innovative and the point of view is fresh and of the moment. The one place they falter is in the inclusion and crafting of the male characters. Beyond the shitshow that is Farrell’s performance, Ryan Gosling’s Ken, although crushingly charming, speaks as though he’s a character in a different film. Silly dialogue involving beach offs and a non-diagetic, out of nowhere musical number are incongruent with the intelligent tone and perspective of the rest of the movie. Barbie just isn’t for boys. It’s this inconsistency that prevents me from completely loving the film.

And that’s a shame because they’re an awful lot to love. It’s a visual wonder and will no doubt dominate in the creative awards categories next year. Production Design and Costume Design are a lock. The soundtrack is a bop filled party. The elements, As Dr. Watson said to Sherlock, are coming together sir. (Corky St Clair? Anyone?) Overall Barbie is a great time at the theatre and worth seeing even if it doesn’t exactly live up to its full potential, or its hype.