Barbie is witty, opulent, and entertaining. Like they are from her dollhouse, Greta plays with concepts like existentialism, feminism, puberty, and patriarchy.
The narrative of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie is far more sophisticated than what it lets on, if the trailers for it have consistently revealed anything at all. However, the movie ends up being too clever; it’s satire that keeps pointing out that it’s satire. By the movie’s conclusion, you want to declare, “Yes, we get it; you’re smart.”
Having said that, one cannot discount the clever planning that Greta and her husband Noah Baumbach put into the scripting of Barbie. The fact that a married couple makes up the writing room is helpful because, at its core, Barbie is a struggle between the sexes. It contrasts the real world with Barbieworld, where women dominate and men are subservient, as well as yin and yang, feminism, and Ryan Gosling’s Ken and Margot Robbie’s Barbie.
Greta is pretty liberal with her satire and keeps repeating how she’s changing the perception of the Barbie myth. Thus, the humor only occasionally works, despite the fact that one silently appreciates the shots fired with each phrase. But the tone, which is a blend of self-awareness and outlining everything, stays the same throughout.
Greta Gerwig creates a satire in that that is a little self-indulgent, but nevertheless consistently witty and occasionally entertaining. She treats the script like her doll, dressing it up and using her creativity to take it to uncharted territory.