Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” will be damn-near impossible to avoid this awards season, so get used to it. It has its legions of fans, including critics, and I can easily see it getting nominated for Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Makeup and other categories.
However, can any serious-minded movie fan actually say, with a straight face, that “Barbie” is the best film they’ve seen all year? 2023 has had a strong batch of titles, and, although “Barbie” is the most popular blockbuster of the year, it wouldn’t even crack my top 30.
I’m genuinely asking this question, and I know it’ll be appearing on a slew of top 10 lists by the end of the year. It’s just that “Barbie,” with its subversive themes, is still one big fat marketing machine. It’s meant to sell dolls.
I know, I know, there are some readers on here who totally abide by Gerwig’s dollhouse theatrics, and I’ve read some of your thoughts behind why you think “Barbie” is grear. Supposedly, “Barbie” megafan Richard Brody is a lurker of this site, you can read his reasoning for calling Gerwig’s film a “masterpiece” right here.
Here’s another huge fan of the doll. In an upcoming episode of The Discourse podcast, via The Playlist, director Scott Derrickson (“Doctor Strange,” “The Black Phone”) talks about his two favorite films of the year. The first one is horror film “When Evil Lurks,” which opens in theaters this weekend, and the other, well, it’s Gerwig’s masterwork.
“I think ‘Barbie’ is the best film I’ve seen this year—well, maybe that’s not true; I saw this horror film, ‘When Evil Lurks’ at Fantastic Fest, but ‘Barbie’ and ‘When Evil Lurks’ those are my two favorite films of the year, which couldn’t be further away from each other.”
Derrickson then cites “Barbie” as an example as to how a movie based on I.P. comics, video games, or even toys, can turn into a work of art:
“Barbie’ is a good example of populist I.P. that was treated with true brilliance. That’s an extraordinary movie on every level. I think it should probably win Best Picture; the writing is so clever and so smart and subversive, the acting is amazing, and it’s so entertaining, it’s artful in its visuals, the style of it, it’s just an awesome film.”
Derrickson makes a fairly good point about why and how art can be made into I.P. — I still can’t believe what Gerwig and her Barbie (Margot Robbie) got away with in their over-the-top meta feminist manifesto.
It was a risk-taker, there’s no doubt about it, but, to my eyes, at least, it just didn’t fully gel as a whole — especially in its second half. It was an incredibly snarky attempt at mixing art and consumerism.
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