Barbie

Last night Sean and I returned to the Broadway to see Barbie and, as with Oppenheimer the night before, it exceeded my already high expectations! A Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie), along with various other Barbies who who perform specific occupations within the matriarchal society (portrayed by Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kayne, Dua Lipa, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Emerald Fennell, and Marisa Abela), is living the best day ever in Barbieland while a Stereotypical Ken (Ryan Gosling), several other Kens (portrayed by Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa, Rob Brydon, and John Cena), and Allan (Michael Cera) do anything they can to get her attention.  Barbie soon experiences an existential crisis and seeks out a Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) who has been played with too hard.  Weird Barbie tells her that she must go to the Real World and find the child who plays with her to resolve any issues lest she end up like her.  However, things do not go as planned in the Real World because Ken stows away with her and is influenced by the patriarchy, the CEO of Mattel (Will Ferrell) wants to put her back in a box, and her child Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) berates her for giving girls unrealistic standards of beauty.  Barbie eventually discovers her true purpose with the help of Sasha's mother Gloria (America Ferrera) and Barbie's creator Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman).  I loved everything about this movie!  The message about identity is so incredibly powerful and a brilliant monologue about the travails of being a woman in today's society elicited applause from my audience while a montage to Billie Eilish's song "What Was I Made For?" reduced me to tears.  This is definitely an ode to female empowerment but I also really appreciated Ken's character arc as he goes on his own journey to self-actualization (in a hilarious 80s music video featuring a power ballad called "I'm Just Ken" performed by Gosling).  Gerwig (I love her unique voice as a filmmaker) effectively straddles the line between social commentary and nostalgia for a beloved toy through brilliant production design (the Barbie Dreamhouse with a slide to the pool is amazing), costumes that recreate some of Barbie's most famous looks, and witty self-referential dialogue that will have audiences laughing out loud (I loved a throw-away line about wearing high heels).  I can't think of anyone better to embody the iconic doll than Robbie and I loved her performance but Gosling is an absolute hoot who steals the show (especially in the aforementioned musical number) every time he is on screen.  It was such a fun experience watching this with a capacity crowd dressed in pink (they let me and Sean into the theater despite our lack of pink attire) and I highly recommend it!

Note:  After seeing both movies I stand by my recommendation to see Barbie and Oppenheimer on different days.  The shift in tone will be much too jarring!