Barbie (2023)
I think the brilliant trailer oversold this a bit for me - and kinda ruined the first 20 minutes, because it is basically the trailer just slower and most of the funny moments were already in the trailer. But can’t deny everything is extremely well made in Barbieland. Things got more interesting in the “real world” (very much in quotes because it is still very much a satirical depiction) with plenty of good chuckles and several layers of hilarious meta references. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling play Barbie and Ken to absolute perfection, and slowly building sort of a individual personality for each of them while never letting go of the fact that they are both pre-programmed characters in a Mattel-made world.
I tend to prefer movies that arrive at their message with more subtlety, so I did struggle with how everything was told here. But the movie needs to be this way to work properly. Barbie and Ken are characters that could only work if they behaved and talked like they do here. And in a way it was refreshing to see a movie that may have a very outspoken message and doesn’t try wrap everything in subtle metaphors. Because even though I usually shy away from movies that do this, it actually worked here because the whole fictional world already has everything exaggerated in a satirical frame.
For someone at least somewhat knowledgeable of modern feminism, there may not be any major new insights here, but as said before - it is very refreshing to watch it stated so blatantly obvious and with such humor that I think most people will feel at least partly understood in some scenes. Greta isn’t afraid of makings stabs at both men and women, but it never gets mean though things are simplified for comedic effect.
An admirable movie on most accounts, but I can’t help feel this came out maybe 10 years too late.
Rating: 3.5