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After 42 computer-animated Barbie films released since 2001 by toy giant Mattel, it was only a matter of time before we would get a live-action version of the beloved doll. That moment finally came in 2023 when Mattel Films, in collaboration with Warner Bros, released the very first live-action Barbie movie, featuring perhaps the perfect actress for the role – Margot Robbie (which, when considering Amy Schumer was the original choice to play Barbie, came as a major relief, to put it mildly).

Related Article: All Margot Robbie Movies Ranked From Worst to Best

And it seemed that everything went incredibly well from the very start. The film became the biggest financial success of 2023 – grossing over $1.4 billion at the box office – and also got glowing reviews from professional critics, enjoying an excellent rating of 88% “fresh” on rottentomatoes.com. So, that’s it, then! We can proclaim Barbie 2023 a modern masterpiece of filmmaking, which will surely attain a “classic” status in the years to come! Right?

Well… not so fast!

Although Barbie managed to satisfy most film critics and make a ridiculous amount of money at the box office, there were more than a few issues with the film and, in this article, we’ll go through every single one of them. Firstly, it was never mentioned in the advertising and in the trailers for the film that Barbie is essentially a political movie. This was in stark contrast with the animated films that preceded it.

People entered the theaters expecting to see a fun adventure with Barbie and Ken, but little did they know they were actually getting a two-hour lecture on patriarchy. If director Greta Gerwig made a movie that was purely about how difficult women have it in today’s first-world countries, she knew very few people would show up to see it. But she also knew that many people would show up to see Ken and Barbie!

And so, she had a brilliant idea – why not use Ken and Barbie as bait to get people to come and see the film, and then, once inside the theater, unleash all the rants about female oppression, toxic masculinity, and systemic injustice. It was very deceptive, to say the least.

From now on, there will be spoilers!

So, the movie starts in Barbieland where everything and everyone is perfect, except for Ken who desperately needs Barbie’s affection, but is unable to get it no matter how hard he tries. Everything is going well until Barbie gets flat feet and cellulite (the horror!) and, after consultation with Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), she has to travel to the real world (present-day Los Angeles) so she can find the girl who has all these “dark thoughts” about her.

By helping this girl, Barbie hopes to bring everything back to normal in Barbieland, but although she plans to travel to Los Angeles alone, she discovers that Ken has smuggled himself into the back of her car, and so, the two of them begin their adventure in the “real world.” This is where the real problems with the movie begin.

Right after they arrive in the real world, Barbie immediately gets harassed, assaulted, and arrested, but Ken seems to be having the time of his life. After temporarily splitting from Barbie, Ken discovers that it’s the men who are in charge in this “real world” and they keep women practically as second-class citizens. This is the opposite of how things are in Barbieland.

One of the first things Ken witnesses is a female co-worker being quickly dismissed from an all-male group of colleagues (“Not now, Margaret!”) and he even practices the dismissing gesture with his hands. He then learns that this model of “male rule” is called patriarchy and is widely practiced in the real world, although – as the male CEO where Ken tries to apply for a job tells him – they (the men) are “trying not to make it so obvious.”

Meanwhile, Barbie learns from another woman that the “fear” she has felt ever since she arrived in the “real world” is called anxiety, and, apparently, only women experience it. Men will never know what women are going through, because, as the same woman tells Ken: “That’s cause kids don’t take out on the dads” (I guess only mothers have a difficult job raising kids in the real world).

And if things haven’t been horrible for Barbie so far, she is also chased all over town by the Matel executives who want her to “get back in the box,” which is supposed to allude to how all women in the Western world are being treated today (and, mind you, all of this is not supposed to represent Saudi Arabia, but present-day United States).

Now, you might be thinking: “Ok. Sure, this is all a bit exaggerated, but after all, it’s a comedy! Comedies frequently use exaggeration as a satiric tool! Right?” Well, that’s actually the biggest issue with this movie. You see, it’s clear that, as far as the writers are concerned, the “real world” part wasn’t meant to be an exaggeration! This is how the filmmakers actually see the treatment of women in the Western world today.

In their minds, Barbie 2023 is supposed to raise awareness about this supposed problem and convert people into activists for change. The problem is that this is a worldview not shared by most people, not even the majority of women in the Western world.

After finding Gloria (the “child” whose “dark thoughts” gave Barbie flat feet and cellulite) and her daughter Sasha (whom Barbie originally thought was the person she was looking for), Barbie escapes the Matel executives and travels back to Barbieland with her two new friends, only to discover that Ken has already returned before them, and has brought the patriarchy from “real world” with him.

Now in Barbieland, all the Kens have turned into Andrew Tate clones, and the Barbies have been brainwashed to be subservient to them (supposedly, just like women are in today’s Western society). After Barbie loses hope for man—… I mean, dollkind, Gloria snaps her back to reality by delivering the now-infamous rant about how it’s almost impossible to be a woman in a first-world, western country. Here’s the full rant:

“It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong. You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass.

You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood.

But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault. I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know.”

Once you get to his monologue, it becomes crystal clear that this rant right here is the sole reason for this movie’s existence. That’s right! The movie was never about Barbie or Ken, or about them having a fun adventure together; everything was just bait to get you to listen to this verbal diarrhea. Actress America Ferrera has stated that she did this scene around 40 times on set, confirming that this was by far the most important scene in the movie (at least as far as the filmmakers are concerned).

Seriously, who is telling women that they “have to always be extraordinary” or that they “can never say they want to be thin.“? “You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean.” “You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas.” Again, who is telling women that they have to be bosses or that they are not allowed to be mean? The world is filled with women who are not CEOs and also women who are mean as hell and neither are being persecuted for this.

“You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood.” What “sisterhood” are women supposed to be part of?

Also, women are not “supposed” to stay pretty for men. Working toward being physically attractive is just good advice for both men and women if they want to attract a partner who’s also physically attractive – regardless of whether they want to attract partners of the same or the opposite sex. And “Be thin, but not too thin” is just general health advice your doctor would give regardless of whether you are a man or a woman.

“You have to be a career woman“; “You have to answer for men’s bad behavior”; and “You have to never get old” sound like more things writer/director Greta Gerwig made up so she can have something to complain about, and “it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.” is just not true for women in western societies – it’s true for politicians no matter what gender they are.

It seems that this whole thing was written by someone who desperately wants to be a victim, but has problems finding herself an oppressor, so she blows everything out of proportion and makes stuff up just to fill the need.

But probably the most insulting part of the movie comes when the Barbies devise a plan to take back control of Barbieland. “Distract them (the Kens) by appearing helpless and confused. Kens cannot resist a damsel in distress. You have to make them believe that you’re complacent. That they have the power. And when their guard is down you take the power back.”

Then the Barbies pretend that they are ignorant about everything because the Kens cannot resist endlessly lecturing women (keep in mind that these toxic Kens are supposed to represent how men are behaving in the “real world”). “You can tell him that you’ve never seen The Godfather and that you’d love them to explain it to you.” Apparently, men in reality all think that women are less intelligent than they are, and they just cannot resist explaining everything to them. One of the Kens even says to the plus-sized Barbie: “Oh, sweetheart, you’re so cute when you’re confused.”

“You play on their egos and their petty jealousies and you turn them against each other.” Aha! So even though the Kens (men in general) think that they are stronger and more Intelligent than the Barbies (women), they are in reality as dumb as a bag full of rocks and are easy prey for even the most basic manipulation tactics.

To understand why this is such a problem, let’s just imagine if someone made a movie where all women are stereotyped as emotional trainwrecks, unable to control their feelings, getting hyper-emotional for even the smallest issues, having nothing to do all day except gossip and spend an eternity at shopping malls while using their husband’s credit cards, and causing traffic catastrophes every time they get behind the wheel.

It’s fair to assume that the same people who wrote Barbie would lose their minds and demand such a film to be boycotted and banned from theaters, but when they do the exact same thing to men, it’s “stunning and brave.”

But, does that mean that Barbie is wrong about everything? Well, even a broken clock is right twice a day, and despite all the film’s failures, Barbie does manage to correctly diagnose a certain problem in today’s society. When it comes to Ken, the only reason he adopts the superficial, fake masculinity persona from the “real world” is because he is unable to get Barbie’s affection.

Male loneliness has been on the rise all across Western societies in recent decades, especially among millennials and Gen Z, and there are several prevalent online communities (and they will remain nameless) that make content 100% focused on how all societal problems today can be blamed squarely on “modern women” and their behavior.

But, just like with Ken, this toxic behavior stems from an inability to find oneself a romantic partner and fulfill one’s romantic needs. It’s a serious issue that desperately needs addressing. Still, instead of offering a real solution, the film ends with Barbie telling Ken that he “needs to figure out who he is without her,” basically telling him that it’s OK to keep being alone (which Ken gladly accepts, for some reason).

If only the ever-increasing rates of loneliness and depression could be cured like this. Most people are not made for a lonely existence and although Barbie manages to point out this issue, it doesn’t have the correct answer. It will take a whole lot more than going down a waterslide while yelling your name to make the pain of loneliness go away.

The biggest flaw with Barbie 2023 is that it wasn’t about Barbie at all. It was all about director Greta Gerwig shoving her ideology down your throat for two hours and calling you the problem if you don’t swallow. Barbie was only a marketing tool for this.

It’s the kind of movie that you’re only going to enjoy if you already share Gerwig’s politics, but if you don’t subscribe to her worldview, it becomes just preachy, self-righteous, smug, and self-congratulatory. Instead of bringing Ken and Barbie together, it sets them apart and pretends that this is somehow a good thing. It claims to speak on behalf of women, but if a woman disagrees with the overall message, it tells her that she is brainwashed just like the Barbies in Ken’s mojo-dojo-casa-house (hey, it actually does sound great when you say it!).

Now, if you want to watch a good movie that truly speaks on women’s behalf and does a good job at it, all we need to do is turn the clock a few years back and take a look at 2019’s Bombshell (also starring Margot Robbie and Kate Mckinnon). Bombshell is based on a true story and dramatizes the abuse female Fox News employees had to endure at the hands of CEO Roger Ailes. It’s an excellent movie that brings awareness about a serious issue women face in the workforce, and it also got Robbie an Oscar nomination.

Barbie, on the other hand, mostly makes up problems and then pretends to have the solution to them. It’s 90% politics and only 10% entertainment. Also, the ending doesn’t make much sense either – if women are treated so badly in the West, why would Barbie even want to become a human?

All in all, Barbie 2023 doesn’t achieve much. It throws red meat at the people who already share this worldview, but it won’t convert any new people to the cause. The only thing it does successfully is cause even more division, and who knows, maybe that was Gerwig’s plan all along.

Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the article. If you are a fan of the movie, just remember that this is just an opinion and I hope you didn’t take anything personally. So have a great day and don’t forget to get yourself a Brewski Beer!