To live in Barbieland is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full‐on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. Barbie has been an unmissable cultural phenomenon this summer and is now available to stream on demand.
Oscar nominated Greta Gerwig (“Little Women,” “Lady Bird”) directed “Barbie” from a screenplay by herself & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story,” “The Squid and the Whale”) Based on the fashion dolls by Mattel it is the first live-action Barbie film after numerous computer-animated films and specials. The film stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, and follows the pair on a journey of self-discovery following an existential crisis.
The film was announced in 2009, but development languished for several years. In 2018, Warner Bros. acquired the rights to the film and cast Robbie as Barbie. Gerwig was hired to direct and co-write the screenplay with Baumbach in 2020. Principal photography took place in England and Los Angeles from March to July 2022.
Barbie premiered at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on July 9, 2023, and was released in the United States on July 21. It was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $1.4 billion worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023, and is now available to stream.
“Making a Barbie movie was an amazing opportunity, one we thought we could do something really special with if we could approach it in an unexpected, surprising and clever way. We knew it was a lot to take on, as audiences probably have a preconceived notion of how they think and feel about Barbie, whether good or bad. So, that presented a big challenge, but we were up for the challenge.”
Margot Robbie
The Movie also includes a stella cast: Cruz Kayne (“Little Women”), Emma Mackey (“Emily,” “Sex Education”), Hari Nef (“Assassination Nation,” “Transparent”), Alexandra Shipp (the “X-Men” films), Kingsley Ben-Adir (“One Night in Miami,” “Peaky Blinders”), Simu Liu (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”), Ncuti Gatwa (“Sex Education”), Scott Evans (“Grace and Frankie”), Jamie Demetriou (“Cruella”), Connor Swindells (“Sex Education,” “Emma.”), Sharon Rooney (“Dumbo,” “Jerk”), Nicola Coughlan (“Bridgerton,” “Derry Girls”), Ritu Arya (“The Umbrella Academy”), Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren (“The Queen”).
According to The New York Times, critics praised the script for addressing past criticisms of the Barbie brand’s portrayal of women and lack of diversity while infusing humor. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 468 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website’s consensus reads: “Barbie is a visually dazzling comedy whose meta humor is smartly complemented by subversive storytelling.”] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 67 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews”. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale, while those polled at PostTrak gave it an 89% overall positive score, with 79% saying they would definitely recommend the film.