BARBIE is a guilty pleasure, but also so much more. It's an irreverent, raucous, touching, over-the-top, complex and multi-faceted masterpiece, deserving of Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director AND Best Original Screenplay. There, I've said it.
While Greta Gerwig's directing is glorious (and who can deny the film's slickness and meteoric box office results?), it's the script she co-penned with writer/director/husband Noah Baumbach that speaks truth to power and blesses Barbie with its quirky twists, irony and priceless dialogue. Look no further than arming Barbie with Birkenstocks and the Indigo Girls' 1980s anthem 'Closer To Fine' for her soul-searching in the real world.
The genius of the script is what elevates Barbie to a film d'auteur, and why The Guardian's review 'Has Barbie Killed the Indie Director?' is simplistic, highbrow clickbait unworthy of the publication. I'd humbly suggest The Guardian consider the alternate angle: 'Has Barbie Killed the Bad Film Critics?'
Greta Gerwig and executive producer Margot Robbie stuck to their creative guns throughout. Robbie conceived of the project, brought Greta onboard and then charmed Mattel and Warner Bros. into preserving every degree of its acidity. In Greta Gerwig's words, 'the story being what it is, it feels unbelievable that it's been made.' I couldn't agree more. Barbie's subversiveness and bravery keep it firmly rooted in the indie world.
My only criticism of the script (spoiler alert) would be its reliance on voter suppression to restore the natural order in Barbieland. But then again, the scene also blesses us with Ryan Gosling's rendition of 'I'm Just Ken', so all's forgiven.
Fun fact: Greta Gerwig and husband Noah Baumbach have each been nominated twice for screenplay Oscars. Were they to deservedly win for the Barbie script, it would be third time lucky for both. I'd settle for a nomination, and nothing less.
NOTE 12/2023: Since writing this, the 2024 Golden Globe nominations were announced. Besides leading the pack, Barbie was nominated for Best Film, Best Director (Comedy) and Best Screenplay. Justice has been served, for now.
NOTE 01/2024: The Oscar nominations were just announced, with two glaring omissions. Firstly, Greta Gerwig's masterful directing went unrecognised — best explained by Kyle Buchanan at the NYT as having four things going against it: Barbie being a big studio movie, a comedy, about a doll, and Greta being a woman. To note: 587 Academy members vote for the Best Director nominations. While only a quarter of them are women, votes come in from a respectable 93 countries — which may have been another factor against it, given that the film's kitsch, pop-art sensibility and continual US-specific references played best for an Anglo audience. Who knows. Secondly, Gerwig and Baumbach were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay rather than Original Screenplay, simply because Barbie is based on pre-existing Mattel characters. Absolutely ridiculous, but not without Academy precedent. Judd Apatow summed it up best on X: 'It's insulting to the writers to say they were working off existing material. There was no existing material or story. There was a doll in a clear box.'