The Barbie movie from director Greta Gerwig has broken its review embargo and over 100 critics have submitted their opinions on the latest movie (and bizarre crossover trend with Oppenheimer) to sweep cinemas. For the most part, the reviews are largely positive and it appears to be a hit, even if it’s not all perfect in its execution and ideas.
The Barbie movie currently has an 81 average rating on the review aggregate website, Metacritic, based on 48 critic scores. It also holds an 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, though that percentage will likely fluctuate as more reviews pour in over the next few days. Here’s what the critics are saying about the Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling movie.
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Ann Hornaday from The Washington Post gave it 3/4, saying:
“The zaniness of Barbie, combined with Gerwig’s interest in skewering the patriarchy, sometimes makes the movie a baggy, tonally dissonant viewing experience. But for the most part, she achieves a pleasing balance between the silly and the serious.”
Katie Walsh from Tribune News Service gave it 4/4, stating:
“In this existential exegesis on what it means to be a woman, and a human, Gerwig reflects our world back to us through the lens of Barbie, and in doing so, delivers a barbed statement wrapped in a visually sumptuous & sublimely silly cinematic confection.”
Kimberley Jones from Austin Chronicle awarded it 4/5 and said:
“Electric. There is such visual wit to the film, which ping-pongs between “make-believe” and “real-life,” the two-dimensional and three-dimensional. Lest that all sound too hifalutin, there are some punchlines that made me honk with pleasure.”
Richard Roeper from Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3.5/4:
“This is a truly original work — one of the smartest, funniest, sweetest, most insightful and just plain flat-out entertaining movies of the year.”
Beth Webb from Empire Magazine gave it 4/5, saying:
“Greta Gerwig delivers a new kind of ambitious and giddily entertaining blockbuster that boasts two definitive performances from actors already in their stride. Life after Barbie will simply never be the same again.”
Lovia Gyarkye from The Hollywood Reporter gave it a positive review, stating:
“However smartly done Gerwig’s Barbie is, an ominousness haunts the entire exercise. The director has successfully etched her signature into and drawn deeper themes out of a rigid framework, but the sacrifices to the story are clear.”
However, there were also some negative reviews for Barbie. Stephanie Zacharek from TIME Magazine said:
“The things that are good about Barbie end up being steamrollered by all the things this movie is trying so hard to be. Its playfulness is the arch kind. Barbie never lets us forget how clever it’s being, every exhausting minute.”
Alison Willmore from Vulture also gave it an unfavourable review:
“There’s a streak of defensiveness to Barbie, as though it’s trying to anticipate and acknowledge any critiques lodged against it before they’re made, which renders it emotionally inert despite the efforts at wackiness.”
Barbie arrives in cinemas on 21 July 2023.
