Knee-jerk review: "Barbie"

1. In portraying the world where Barbies all live, the film displays a wildly whimsical, surreal streak that's pretty striking.  It's like nothing really that we've ever seen.  The cinematography and production sign are beautiful, somehow conveying "plastic toy" at every turn.  It's a technical master class.
2. The storyline got a little messy towards the end as the Barbies and Kens try to find a way to live in harmony.
3. But there is no denying that Barbie delivers sharp - at times vicious - satire on gender roles and gender inequity.
4. It's the kind of meticulously layered, smart, purposeful movie that reminds us film can be art.  Nothing on screen feels haphazard or throwaway.
5. Plenty of what seem to be Barbie toy inside jokes went way over our head.  It's pretty impressive that Mattel was okay with making fun of some of the doll's embarrassing misfires over the years.  Usually corporations are fairly humorless about themselves.
6. Margot Robbie, as always, is fantastic.  What other A-list actress could credibly play Barbie? As they say, casting is often half the battle.
7. That said, it's Ryan Gosling's Ken that has more of a complicated, dynamic role to play and he eats it up.
8. It makes narrative sense to go to Mattel headquarters, sure, but beyond that the movie didn't really know what to do with Will Farrell and the Mattel board of directors.
9. We would have preferred spending more time in the real world.  Seeing Barbie and Ken walking the streets of Santa Monica and Venice is pretty hilarious.
10. Disappointing that the mother-daughter relationship felt so undercooked.
11. The movie's last line is a home run.  Fantastic.
12. We don't understand the visceral reaction from some critics who've called the movie anti-men.  The movie sort of goes out of its way to suggest that both genders are just as willing to oppress the other if given the chance.  A society that makes men subservient is just as wrong as one that makes women subservient.  It take selfless work to level the playing field.
13. In other words, yes, it's a pro-feminist movie, but so what?
14. And if you think "patriarchal" is some phony, make-believe, liberal arts concept, you're not seeing our world as it is.
15. America Ferrara delivers a passionate monologue towards the end that felt a little preachy to us, but it resonated with Ms. Fry so clearly the movie is onto something.
16. A movie that feels fresh and clever and important at a time when so many summer movies feel like pointless, underwhelming retreads.

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