I’m about the last person who’d be considered the target audience for a Barbie movie, but this looks fun — and potentially fascinating. It’s the first teaser for Barbie, the movie based on the iconic Mattel toy fashion doll. This cinematic confection stars the perfectly-cast Margot Robbie in the title role.
Perfect casting, however, does not guarantee a great movie (not entirely, anyway); that takes a gifted filmmaker with a particular vision and, more specifically, a point of view and something to say. With films like Lady Bird and Little Women to her directing credit (not to mention countless others as an actress and writer), Greta Gerwig fits that bill in spades.
This teaser, while light on details, hints at the work of an actual artist — one that promises something unique, specific, and highly entertaining — and not merely a quick, lazy IP content money grab.
Co-starring Ryan Gosling as Ken, plus Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Michael Cera and Will Ferrell, Barbie — co-written by Gerwig and her creative-and-life partner Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) — opens in theaters next summer on July 21, 2023.
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