These are strange times for movie buffs. Since Hollywood seems to have run out of ideas, the nostalgia factor has had to be used instead of creative and new ideas. However, comics have now been exploited, and even old franchises like “Star Wars” or “Indiana Jones” arouse more pity than wanting to celebrate their return to the big screen. So now it’s consumer products that are supposed to lure us to the cinema. Whether video games or sneakers, the main thing is that the recognition value generates the necessary hype. And the latest nostalgia smack in film form also hits this notch: “Barbie”.
Although the flick wants to polish up the somewhat outdated image of the popular plastic doll, “Barbie” gets lost too much in a plot without proper focus, characters without depth and a jumble of themes.
How Barbie and Ken moved out into the “real world”.
But what story do you actually tell in a movie about Barbie? Director Greta Gerwig (“Ladybird”) and her co-screenwriter Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story”) had to rack their brains about this. Not an easy task – and unfortunately the two of them could not master it.
About the plot: In her otherwise so perfect world, suddenly things don’t go smoothly for the “stereotypical Barbie” (Margot Robbie). At first, her morning routine no longer runs smoothly – and eventually thoughts of death and cellulite spread. To solve the strange events, the blonde moves out into the “real world” with her platonic friend Ken (Ryan Gosling) to find the girl to play with her. It is supposed to have a direct influence on Barbie in the Barbie world. Along the way, Mattel products experience some existential adventures and even confront their creator.
After just a few minutes it seems as if neither “Barbie” the film nor the main character of the same name really know what they actually want. Barbie’s motivation to venture out into the “real world” isn’t really apparent from the start. Ken, who accompanies them, has even less motivation. He’s there because he wants to get Barbie’s attention. And other than being a log and giving Gosling the comedic part, the supporting character doesn’t really need it.
Barbie and Ken’s journey takes them from the “real world” back to the Barbie world, both universes (whose existences are never explained) being equally absurd. Everything seems so exaggerated and exaggerated that there is no contrast and raises the question of what the two worlds are supposed to stand for. A classic “Fish-Out-Of-Water” story, where the “real world” is more like our reality and where Barbie and Ken have to navigate it, might have suited the film better.
And where is the actual conflict? It’s only introduced hastily in the third act, when Ken wants to turn the Barbies’ women’s power world into a patriarchy. Why? He just picked it up in the “real world”. Ultimately, the rest of the plot then runs into meta-humor and innuendos. The actually well-intentioned messages about being a woman, feminism, identity and existentialism get stuck between the Gaga humor and brightly colored sets. The topic of the oppression of women by men is applied far too thickly and seems like a specification by the producers. In this aspect, “Barbie” gets caught up in the very clichés the strip wants to poke fun at: female power on behalf of capitalism. In itself an exciting topic, but one that is pounded into the heads of the viewers with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
Irony as a protective shield against any criticism
What is particularly bad about “Barbie”? The script. The otherwise lovingly implemented film cannot decide what it wants to be and which audience it is aimed at. The humor seems intended for children and young people, the existential themes for adults. The strip does not manage the balancing act. In addition to all the well-intentioned messages, the work is also an advertisement for Mattel’s toys. After a while, the constant product placements just get annoying and distracting.
But so that Gerwig and Baumbach can somehow accommodate the product placements that Mattel and Warner Bros. Discovery probably wanted, the authors wrap everything in a tenfold layer of irony. Tina Fey and Dan Harmon already used this technique in their comedy series “30 Rock” and “Community” in order not to come across as too clumsy in surreptitious advertising. Unlike the two TV comedy writers, however, neither Gerwig nor Baumbach are humor experts, and the scam is all too transparent.
It doesn’t help if allusions to film classics like “2001: A Space Odyssey” or “Matrix” want to make us even more aware of the irony of the whole thing. The 1000th gag with the famous “Dawn of Men” scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 work or references to “blue or red pill” are just plain old and no longer original. Especially since younger viewers will probably not understand what the references are all about.
Like so many elements in “Barbie”, these should either increase the nostalgia factor or ensure that the absurdity of the strip is also known to the last person. A boring trend, with which the films of the Marvel Universe already got around explaining holes in the plot or illogical connections. It’s not meant to be taken seriously anyway, so please don’t think about it. The crowning glory is the narrator (spoken by Hellen Mirren in the original), who addresses the filmmakers directly. We get it, it’s a movie.
Life in plastic, it’s not fantastic
In the end, what remains is a film like Barbie’s dream house: chic and garishly colorful from the outside, but very transparent and lacking substance on the inside. It’s really a pity, because in some places it seems as if Gerwig and Baumbach wanted to go in a different direction with “Barbie”.
The sparse moments in which the heroine explores her emotions and tries to figure out who she is, nevertheless, suggest a certain depth. Why not more of this? In these scenes, Gerwig also shows where her strengths as a director lie. She also got a lot out of the main actors Robbie and Gosling, who are all in a good mood and at least breathe some life into the plastic figures. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast and the remaining characters remain pale and lifeless. The only surprise: There is a small “sex education” reunion with Emma Mackey, Ncuti Gatwa and Connor Swindells, even if apart from Swindells’ character nobody else would be worth mentioning. The soundtrack has some real pop greats in Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish and is also fitting for the gaudy world. But the music also follows the meta track again, so that it takes you out of the corresponding moments in the film.
Perhaps Gerwig and Baumbach should have oriented themselves towards the conceptually similar “Lego Movie”. Although it is just as much an infomercial for the small plastic figures, it is more purposeful in its simple story. In addition, the “Lego” directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord managed to concentrate on one topic and transport it in an understandable way in the context of the story and characters.
So “Barbie” comes across as an overloaded party playlist at the fair around the corner: A kettle full of colorful things that everyone wants to please, but can’t decide on a direction and gets annoying after half an hour.