Barbie movie review: Margot Robbie & Ryan Gosling are sensational in a film that nearly overstays its welcome

Cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Ana Cruz Kayne

Director: Greta Gerwig

Language: English

Spoilers ahead

What if a doll that belonged to an imaginary world stepped into a real world? The idea sounds zany and writer-director Greta Gerwig along with Noah Baumbach put it out equally boisterously in their film Barbie. Google the film and the page will turn pink. It’s a very catchy marketing strategy and as the trailer says- If you like Barbie, you’ll watch the film, if you hate Barbie, you’ll watch the film. One would wonder why the makers say so. As the story progresses, one gets a hang of the claim, it’s surely not pompousness.

A tense yet comical conversation between a school girl and Barbie (a vibrant Margot Robbie) veers into consumerism and fascism and Barbie cannot stop crying. Simultaneously, Ken (a sensational Ryan Gosling) learns a thing or two about patriarchy. This is all unfolding when these two idiosyncratic characters step from their world and arrive in the real world. The tone of the film is purposely OTT (no puns here) and so are the performances. Everyone who came on board must have been told how to enact and approach their scenes, with madness and mayhem. All they were required to do was just have some fun.

Barbie develops bad breath, flat feet, and cellulite one morning and all hell breaks loose. The excessiveness of the extravagant frames (mostly filled with the colour pink) never become a hindrance as the pacing remains swift and the humour smart and silly. A breathless monologue by America Ferrera on womanhood, sacrifices, and everything in general roars, so do many lines about patriarchy and women’s rights and choices. It’s ingenious of Gerwig to weave all these chaotic and contrasting elements into one narrative and make you chuckle and contemplate at the same time.

Maybe that’s why the makers said even if you don’t like Barbie, you’ll watch this film. Barbie isn’t just a woman’s world, there are bronzed men too. This is in no way a chick flick, it’s surprisingly layered and laced with social commentary on all the issues and topics we may scoff at in the real world (maybe in the Barbie world too). But it’s all done with so much energy and exuberance, it feels it was a film made on steroids. There’s a whacky cameo by John Cena too, and we all can see him (no puns here too). Films like Barbie want to make sense by not making sense at all, this is the kind of film that revels in its nonsensical nature instead of shying away from it. But yes, it does overstay its welcome. I mean for how long can you continue playing with dolls!

It’s also a great week at the movies. On one hand is Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and then there’s Barbie. Social media has hyped the box-office clash between these two to no extent, and the anticipation is surreal. Now it’s time to witness which one ignites the ticket windows more- Bombs or Barbies.

Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)

Barbie is now playing in cinemas