'Give Ryan Gosling an Oscar nom!': first Barbie reactions suggest ...

Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s ambitious satire in which Margot Robbie’s titular blonde escapes Barbieland to experience the real world, has drawn ecstatic reactions from audiences at an early screening.

Variety’s social media editor Katcy Stephan called the movie “perfection” and added: “Greta Gerwig delivers a nuanced commentary on what it means to be a woman in a whimsical, wonderful and laugh-out-loud funny romp. The entire cast shines, especially Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in roles they were clearly born to play.”

Meanwhile ScreenRant writer Joseph Deckelmeier said the film was “funny, bombastic and very smart”. “Greta Gerwig aims for the fences and hits a home run,” he added, calling Robbie “great” and Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu – who play Kens – “pure entertainment”.

Meanwhile Jamie Jirak of ComicBook.com said the film was her favourite of the year and added: “Greta Gerwig somehow exceeded my expectations … Give Ryan Gosling an Oscar nomination, I’m dead serious!”

The film’s cast and crew have been on a mammoth publicity tour for the film ahead of its worldwide release on 21 July. At the Los Angeles premiere on Sunday, one notable absentee was the film’s co-writer, Noah Baumbach, who did not attend as a statement of solidarity with the Writers Guild of America, who are currently on strike.

Said Greta Gerwig: “My co-writer, my partner in love and art, Noah Baumbach is not here. He is passionately supporting the fight of the WGA. He is a Barbie girl. Nothing in Barbie happened without him, and nothing in Hollywood happens without writers.”

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Speaking to the Observer, Gerwig said she and Baumbach had worked on the script during the pandemic. “There was this sense of wanting to make something anarchic and wild and completely bananas, because it felt, like, ‘Well, if we ever do get to go back to cinemas again, let’s do something totally unhinged.’”

Gerwig said she hoped the film would be an anarchic experience, crediting its inspiration to “the deep isolation of the pandemic, that feeling of being in our own little boxes, alone”.

Alongside Robbie, Gosling and Liu, the cast includes Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Emma Mackey, Dua Lipa, Nicola Coughlan, America Ferrera, Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, Helen Mirren, Jamie Demetriou and Emerald Fennell.