![]() This one checks all the right boxes, while making Ryan Gosling’s dumb-dumb Ken the butt of most of its gender-equity jokes. That’s an admirable achievement, given understandably protective corporate parent Mattel - though let’s be honest, in the year 2023, it would be a shock (and box office suicide) if “Barbie” arrived without some kind of female-empowerment message baked in. Gerwig has made the kind of family film she surely wishes had been available to her when she was a girl, sneaking a message (several of them, really) inside Barbie’s hollow hourglass figure. ![]() Robbie might be a dead-ringer for Barbie, but her moxie powers the performance. Like Barbie, they serve as role models, which is what makes Gerwig’s take on the ultra-popular toy line so darn smart. ![]() You know who else sets unrealistic beauty standards? Movie stars. While some have rightly criticized the doll for setting unrealistic beauty standards, Barbie also showed girls they can do and be anything, as different models have portrayed her as president, a rocket scientist, even trans. So what if this high-concept comedy falls a bit flat in the final stretch?īarbie’s strength as a brand comes from her aspirational appeal. Combine that with the casting of Margot Robbie in the title role, and “Barbie” is already starting out on the right, perfectly arched foot. Therein lies “Lady Bird” director Greta Gerwig’s inspired, 21st-century solution to bringing one of America’s most iconic playthings to life on the big screen. Check out the brain on Barbie! Sure, she’s just a doll, but that doesn’t mean she has to be an airhead.
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