The reviews for the first half of “Barbenheimer” are in and excitement keeps building as the Greta Gerwig film, Barbie starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken in the lead roles gets closer to the July 21 release date. The review embargo has finally been lifted and critics are absolutely raving about the film which is currently certified “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes with an 89% critics score based on 171 reviews. Here’s a quick rundown of what critics are saying:
Brian Lowry from CNN.com said “The fact that “Barbie’s” marketing campaign has organically taken on a life of its own serves as a sign of the times, where anything worth doing often appears worth overdoing. Still, there’s an enjoyable movie buried under all that hype, especially for those receptive to unwrapping the neatly packaged real-world themes while watching “Barbie” strut her stuff.”
Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune had this to say, “The crucial partnership here is the one between director and performer, Gerwig and Robbie; anything Gerwig and Baumbach’s verbally dexterous script requires, from Barbie’s first teardrop to the final punchline, Robbie handles with unerring precision.”
Richard Lawson from Vanity Fair said, “There is plenty in Barbie to be delighted by, even moved by. I have no doubt that the film will be a massive hit”
Manohla Dargis from New York Times seemed impressed, “The Mattel brand looms large here, but Gerwig, whose directorial command is so fluent she seems born to filmmaking, is announcing that she’s in control.”
Peter Debruge from Variety had this to say, “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. That’s an admirable achievement.”
Devan Coggan from Entertainment Weekly said, “It’s Gerwig’s care and attention to detail that gives Barbie an actual point of view, elevating it beyond every other cynical, IP-driven cash grab.”
Brian Truitt from USA Today seemed to like it and said, “Barbie is really an insightful exploration of humanity, the meaning of life and the cognitive dissonance of a woman living in the patriarchy, all with a really big heart and style to spare.”
Justin Chang from the Los Angeles Times said, “Robbie takes an archetype long dismissed as an airheaded caricature and, moment by deeply felt moment, teases and fleshes her out.”
Beth Webb from Empire Magazine articulated, “Greta Gerwig delivers a new kind of ambitious and giddily entertaining blockbuster that boasts two definitive performances from actors already in their stride. Life after Barbie will simply never be the same again.”
David Fear from Rolling Stone said, “the victory that is Gerwig, Robbie, and Gosling — along with a supporting cast and crew that revel in the idea of joining a benefic Barbie party — slipping in heady notions about sexualization, capitalism, social devolution, human rights and self-empowerment, under the guise of a lucrative, brand-extending trip down memory lane? That’s enough to make you giddy. We weren’t kidding about the “subversive” part above; ditto the “blockbuster.” A big movie can still have big ideas in 2023. Even a Barbie movie. Especially a Barbie movie.”
Kate Erbland from indieWire expressed, “Barbie is a lovingly crafted blockbuster with a lot on its mind, the kind of feature that will surely benefit from repeat viewings (there is so much to see, so many jokes to catch) and is still purely entertaining even in a single watch.”
Mick LaSalle from San Francisco Chronicle said, “Barbie is an impressive and original work of the imagination. Its story holds up most of the time and for most of the way, with the unifying through line being Barbie’s existential crisis. Margot Robbie, also the movie’s co-producer, plays Stereotypical Barbie (that is, the original Barbie), who lives a life of endless peace and pleasure. The Barbies rule in this world. They are the doctors, the politicians and the judges, while the Kens — including Beach Ken (Ryan Gosling) — just stand around waiting for the Barbies to look at them.”
Richard Roeper from the Chicago Sun-Times said, “This is a truly original work — one of the smartest, funniest, sweetest, most insightful and just plain flat-out entertaining movies of the year.”
Dana Stevens from Slate believes Barbie is, “An earnest feminist manifesto inside a barbed social satire inside an effervescent musical comedy, all designed in colors and textures so sumptuous they make 1950s Technicolor look desaturated.”
Lovia Gyarkye from Hollywood Reporter seemed to have mixed feelings, “However smartly done Gerwig’s Barbie is, an ominousness haunts the entire exercise. The director has successfully etched her signature into and drawn deeper themes out of a rigid framework, but the sacrifices to the story are clear.”
Of course you can’t please everyone and there are a handful of negative reviews:
Kyle Smith from the Wall Street Journal had this to say, “Barbie is a template for how not to write a crowd-pleasing Hollywood feature. Ms. Gerwig and Mr. Baumbach are accomplished indie filmmakers who make poor choices to flesh out these characters.”
Stephanie Zacharek from TIME Magazine said, “The things that are good about Barbie end up being steamrollered by all the things this movie is trying so hard to be. Its playfulness is the arch kind. Barbie never lets us forget how clever it’s being, every exhausting minute.”
Alison Willmore from New York Magazine/Vulture said, “There’s a streak of defensiveness to Barbie, as though it’s trying to anticipate and acknowledge any critiques lodged against it before they’re made, which renders it emotionally inert despite the efforts at wackiness.”
Johnny Oleksinski from the New York Post agrees, “Barbie is an exhausting, spastic, self-absorbed and overwrought disappointment.”
REELated:
Barbie was written and directed by Oscar-nominated Greta Gerwig, starring Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren.
The screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, is based on Barbie by Mattel. The film’s producers are Oscar nominee David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, with Michael Sharp, Josey McNamara, Ynon Kreiz, Courtenay Valenti, Toby Emmerich and Cate Adams serving as executive producers.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents a Heyday Films Production, a LuckyChap Entertainment Production, a Mattel Production, Barbie. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and released in theaters only nationwide on July 21, 2023 and beginning internationally on July 19, 2023.
Check out the trailer here:
