“Hi Barbie!” “Hi Ken!”
If you grew up in the 90s, it’s nearly impossible now to watch the new trailer for the forthcoming “Barbie” movie and not start singing the 1997 Aqua song — “Barbie Girl” — in your head. But in the new Greta Gerwig-helmed story, Barbie (Margot Robbie) doesn’t immediately jump in and go for a ride with Ken (Ryan Gosling) around her Barbie World.
In a movie landscape dominated by ever-expanding action-centric superhero franchises, “Barbie” is one for the girls, gays and theys.
That comes later — and the roles are reversed. lt’s Gosling’s extremely sweet, extremely blond himbo of a Ken that sneaks his way into the back seat of Barbie’s signature pink convertible as she departs Barbie Land for the real world. And, obviously, he brought his neon yellow rollerblades with him.
But the newest trailer’s delights don’t stop there. We get glimpses of Barbie as a president (Issa Rae), Barbie as an author (Alexandra Shipp), Barbie as a physicist (Emma Mackey), Barbie as a Supreme Court justice (Ana Cruz Kayne) and a Barbie whose hair has clearly been hacked off by her child owner (Kate McKinnon). Helen freaking Mirren is the narrator! A bunch of Kens (Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir) engage in a homoerotic exchange about “beaching off.” Every frame is full of bright pinks and seafoam greens and baby blues. There’s gingham and stripes and Hawaiian prints and so many perfectly matching sets.
In a movie landscape dominated by ever-expanding action-centric superhero franchises, “Barbie” is one for the girls, gays and theys. Even if fans still don’t really know what the movie is about. Landing on the same day as former President Donald Trump was arrested in Manhattan, this beautiful, bizarre, nostalgic distraction was perfectly timed. And so were the memes.
Details of the July film’s plot are somewhere between vague and nonexistent. Vogue reported in December that the movie will center on “a doll…
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