*Premise spoilers. Also, a note: This is going to be more “movie review + Other Doctor Lives,” rather than the more usual “Other Doctor Lives movie review.” That’s because there’s a lot to say about Barbie but very little to say about Ncuti Gatwa in Barbie.*
Okay, so I swear I’ll finish season 2 of DuckTales eventually, but my Big Mouth-prompted break is going to need to be a little bit longer. In addition to Barbie, featuring Ncuti Gatwa, coming out a couple weeks ago, the second season of Good Omens dropped last week, packed with David Tennanty goodness. In short, it’s a good time to like watching Doctors in great stuff!
Since her origins, every day of Barbie’s life has been perfect. She loves her friends, her clothes, and her dreamhouse, and life in Barbie Land is an endless array of accomplished women having fun in fabulous outfits. But suddenly, out of nowhere, things start going a little bit wrong. Barbie learns that the root of the issues lies with the girl in the Real World who’s playing with her, so she sets off (with Ken in tow) to fix things and get her perfect life back.
After seeing the initial teaser, I mostly tried to avoid promos/discussion prior to seeing the film, so I had a general idea of the thrust of the story, but it’s fun watch it all unfold. While I’m certainly not the first to say I wish we’d spent more time in Barbie Land, the interactions between that world and ours are teased out in interesting ways.
I’ll get more into the themes of the movie another day, but now, I’ll just say that even if it can be a bit Feminism 101, I like how unabashed the film is in its ideas. Director/co-writer Greta Gerwig really goes for it in every way here. The movie is bigger and more audacious than anything I’ve seen from her before, and I don’t think all of it quite holds together, but it’s a wild, entertaining ride that explores complex systems and genuine emotions behind all the absurdity and spectacle. The production design is on point from minute one: the sets, outfits, and music all contribute to the film’s “love letter to Barbie” feeling, and the whole film is littered with Easter eggs for the connoisseur of Barbie history. It’s a little like Across the Spider-Verse, but for Barbie!
Margot Robbie is sublime as Barbie. She nails the perkiness and slightly confused innocence, guides us through Barbie’s existential crisis, and just brings so much goodness to the role. She’s silly when she needs to be and handles the emotional moments beautifully. Robbie also plays so well off everyone she interacts with. Meanwhile, Ryan Gosling is fearless as Ken. He goes for broke from start to finish, equal parts clueless, absurd, and insecure. Also, his outfits just keep getting better and better! Rounding out the main cast is America Ferrera as Gloria—I don’t want to say too much about her character right now, but she has some wonderful scenes with Robbie, including one of the best scenes in the film.
The rest of the Barbies are all terrific, if a little underused. The cast is filled with talented, pretty people having lots of fun. Some of the Barbies include Issa Rae (as President Barbie, complete with a beauty queen sash that says “President”!), Alexandra Shipp, and Emma Mackey (Maeve from Sex Education.) And unsurprisingly, Kate McKinnon is fantastic as “Weird Barbie,” complete with a little girl’s DIY haircut and marker scribbles on her face. The other Kens are great, too—all of them very much understood the assignment. Their ranks include Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir. (Side note: it’s fitting that this post is going up the day after my Secret Invasion review, because after Ben-Adir had so little to work with there as a major villain, he’s effortlessly endearing and hilarious here as a sweet, dim Ken.) Special shoutout to Michael Cera as “Ken’s buddy Allan.” He’s used sparingly, but every time he pops up, he doesn’t miss.
Ncuti Gatwa plays another one of the Kens, but he’s more of a second-tier Ken. As such, he doesn’t have all that much to do individually—very few lines, and most of his actions stay in the background. That still involves quite a bit, from dancing to fighting with a tennis racket to wearing absolute Outfits!!, but he’s rarely featured. He’s mostly paired with Mackey’s Barbie, so that’s kind of fun.
Accent Watch
American. Like I said, Gatwa doesn’t have many lines, so I didn’t get much of a chance to hear him talk, but it sounded only slightly wonky to me.
Recommend?
In General – For sure. This movie is great!
Ncuti Gatwa – If you have zero interest in this movie and are in it purely for Gatwa, it’s probably not worth it. But if you’re into it and you want to see Gatwa, it’s still fun to watch him pop up and do silly stuff.
Warnings
Thematic elements (including sexual harassment,) brief violence, innuendo, and mild drinking.
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