BARBIE

Director: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell, Issa Rae, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Hari Nef, Emma Mackey, Dua Lipa, Helen Mirren

You may not expect it, but Greta Gerwig’s new film Barbie is completely worthy of Oscar nominations and other award season chatter. Greta Gerwig co-wrote the film with her filmmaker husband, Noah Baumbach. They have taken Mattel’s iconic doll and created an exciting and fresh take on how we view the character who’s played here by Margot Robbie. She’s referred to as Stereotypical Barbie. Every day Barbie wakes up, gets ready for the day, and greets all the other Barbies in Barbieland who are played by Issa Rae, Dua Lipa, Hari Nef, and others. They run Barbieland and everything is better with the women in charge. Then there’s Ryan Gosling’s Ken who needs Barbie’s attention to feel seen and acknowledged. And naturally he feels very competitive around the other Kens who are played by Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Kingsley Ben-Adir and others. One day, Barbie wakes up and feels off. She meets with Kate McKinnon’s Weird Barbie and learns that she’s malfunctioning and needs to head to the Real World for all the answers she needs. In theaters July 21

Here’s my review