Barbie

A motion picture

Directed by Greta Gerwig

It has been nearly FOUR YEARS since I’ve seen a movie in a theater*.

What would a film need to have to bring me back?

It would have to have a brilliant script, first-rate direction, thoughtful themes and beautiful and talented actors.

In other words, Barbie.

The biggest movie of the year lured me out of my pine-paneled garret to traverse a pot-holed parking lot at the local multiplex on a rainy Monday morning. I bought two early bird admissions for The Weaver and me ($20, ouch!) The sticker shock of $10 popcorn (not even a bucket!) curbed my appetite for snacks and the fifteen-minute barrage of insanity that previews are made of nowadays caused me to further question my decision. But when the movie started with a 30-foot-tall homage to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 all was forgiven.

Barbie is some kind of masterpiece. I don’t know what kind, but nearly everything I've read about it—for or against— has been true, except for the spittle of knee-jerk reactionaries and short-attention span critics who think that a couple of 60 second monologues go on too long. It is a movie about how ideas shape us, specifically the aspirations embodied by the various Barbie iterations over the years. It is about gender roles, about mother-daughter relations and, ultimately, about being honest with ourselves. Every element of the production is seamlessly integrated and the actors are all fully engaged, you can tell that they were having a blast. Margot Robbie is Barbie and, while Ryan Gosling as Ken shines, it is really Michael Cera as Ken’s friend Allan who steals the show as its moral center. Ariana Greenblatt, who portrays the sulky teen-aged Sasha, is going to be a superstar.

Will I see it again?

Probably.

In a theater?

Probably not. Even with the wide-screen hi-def images (it looks FABULOUS!), the Dolby sound (loud and clear but nothing special and can't be adjusted) and the powered pleather lounge chairs (I kept bumping the adjustment controls with my elbow), it can’t compete with the comforts of home. This is a great movie to watch under the influence of mind-altering drugs or some good wine and hors d'oeuvres or, (gasp) even when stone-cold sober.

*Knives Out, November, 2019