Barbie

Barbie is a film where the 2001-spoof trailer made me say “yes, I want to see that” and, as well as being the opening scene, pretty much sets the tone for the film. Margot Robbie as Stereotypical Barbie is a brilliant piece of casting but, to my surprise, Ryan “stone face” Gosling is equally amazing as Stereotypical Ken. There has to be a level of irony in the fact that in this film he’s playing a plastic character, literally, whose face cannot move but he emotes more than I’ve seen in any other film I’ve seen him in.
Helen Mirren is the narrator and that British sarcasm adds a whole extra layer to the film. But that’s just part of the whole script, which is amazing. It’s funny, moving and clever. There’s a wide range of humour, from pithy one-liners to longer form observational satirical sketches and pretty much everything in between. I’ll be honest, not all the humour lands as hilarious for me, I don’t have all the experiences (it’s hard to say which ones without major spoilers), but, crucially, none of them land as offensive or, worse, dull. (Your mileage may vary severely if you’re a Christian Conservative Man.) I would also suggest that for character that it almost a trope in her own right, the script plays into them just enough that it feels right but subverts far more than it plays into which will certainly helped an old cynic like me really enjoy the film. There’s a really fine balancing act to get all of these disparate elements to work, which I’ve seen many other films attempt and fail, so kudos to all involved here for pulling this off so spectacularly well.
If you’ve heard the bleating about how often the film mentions the patriarchy, it’s worth noting this is a partial truth. I didn’t count how many times they said it in the film; it’s quite a few but no one I’ve heard bitching about it mentions that every time it’s said, it’s said by a Ken. It changes the way the joke lands, just like a gay person telling jokes about gay culture lands differently to a straight person repeating the same joke. I wouldn’t have minded a good old “Fuck the Patriarchy!” protest to be honest although it would have been wildly out of place in the rest of the movie.
Although our main Barbie and Ken are very white, we have good diversity among the Barbies in particular, the Ken’s a bit less (we see fewer Ken’s which is probably why - it’s still there though).
I don’t really know what I expected in terms of the structure of Barbie. I think I expected a lot of snark, which we got, but I didn’t really expect a serious plot. This isn’t Pride and Prejudice but I chose some Austen because what we have is clever, funny social commentary from a female perspective. (Yes, other reasons too.) I’ve seen people suggest this could be a serious Oscar contender in multiple categories. I suck at predicting the Oscars but I’d love to see it pick up nominations for director, script, set design, costume design and so forth. I certainly wouldn’t complain if Robbie and/or Gosling were nominated too. It absolutely should get a nomination for best film, although it’s hardly typical Oscars fare. Of course that probably means it’s got absolutely no chance, but we’ll see.
On top of all that, whether you had dozens of Barbie dolls as a child or none, this is just a really good, fun film. Go see it.
Bechdel Test: Pass. There are dozens of Barbies and while some of the conversations are really superficial (“Hello Barbie” “Hello Barbie” is just about a conversation…) and a few are about Ken, mostly they’re not about Ken and are real conversations, with multiple exchanges between the characters.
Ko Test: Pass. Although there are other characters that pass, we have Novelist Barbie, President Barbie and others who have enough lines to pass and are played by WOC so easy pass.
Russo Test: Fail. I went backwards and forwards on this. There are a number of jokes about them having no genitals, and I know that doesn’t mean you can’t have sexual relationships with another, but it’s blatantly presented as not happening. Stereotypical Barbie also doesn’t have romantic feelings for Stereotypical Ken. Does that make her Aro? I decided it was a fail, because I was left questioning all these choices. The Russo Test requires a character who is clearly LGBTQIA+ and these weren’t. I get that this is a film aimed at children as well as adults, and it’s not going to delve into the sexuality of dolls functionally brought to life but it was more ambiguous than, say, Inside Out or a lot of Disney movies where you have mum and dad plus kids. You might never see them even in bed, but you’re still usually sure they’re a sexual couple. Here I had a lot of questions and can interpret it as a function of the dolls, how they’re made, or how children play with them, or an unusually part of the queer spectrum being given a major movie. I think the first two are really what’s going on, hence the fail.