Will Barbie Put An Oscar In Her Dreamhouse?

Yes, ‘dreamhouse’ is one word, according to Mattel.

The Academy Awards have released their list of nominees from 2023, and it’s OK if you’ve only seen variations of Barbenheimer. I worked with someone once who felt obligated to watch every film nominated for an Oscar. It was like she was sentenced to cinematic community service. She probably had to pick up garbage outside the theater with a pointy stick.

I’ve seen some frustration that Margot Robbie wasn’t nominated for Barbie, although technically she is. She’s the executive producer, so if the film wins Best Picture, she gets the statue, which might inspire a separate Barbie line, Academy Award Barbie.

I’m hesitant to say someone deserves an Oscar, because as Clint Eastwood said in Unforgiven, “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.” (Clint Eastwood won Best Director and Best Picture but not Best Actor for Unforgiven.) However, I think Robbie is brilliant in the billion-dollar phenomenon.

---

---

Robbie’s performance in Barbie isn’t showy, and the Academy likes showy. She’s the foundation upon which the entire film rests, of course, but it’s likely she’s the one element everyone will take for granted. Although, the $50 million she’s earned from the film probably makes it easier to cope.

She could’ve demanded Gloria’s (America Ferrera) big speech for herself. That might’ve gotten her the nomination. Academy voters love speeches. But look what Robbie does with just one line.

It’s humbling to admit as a writer that great acting isn’t just about saying our wonderful words, but it remains true.

Director Greta Gerwig wasn’t nominated at all, which reminds me of Billy Crystal’s quip from the 1992 Oscars when Barbra Streisand was similarly snubbed: “Did this film direct itself?” Gerwig’s vision produced a truly cinematic experience that vividly recalls the Golden Age of Hollywood. She even sneaked in Busby Berkeley-worthy musical numbers.

I’m glad Gerwig, along with spouse Noah Baumbach, was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, but I’m still peeved that her script wasn’t eligible for Best Original Screenplay. Yes, Barbie is an existing “intellectual property,” but writing a movie based on a doll is a little different from writing one based on A Streetcar Named Desire. When Woody Allen shamelessly did the latter with Blue Jasmine, he still received the Best Original Screenplay nomination. It’s not original. It’s Tennessee Williams.

Ryan Gosling is a revelation as Ken and might likely win Best Supporting Actor. I appreciate the weird optics of nominating the actor who played Ken in Barbie but not the actor who played Barbie in Barbie. Unfortunately, it’s sort of how two different actors have won Oscars for playing the Joker and yet Academy voters might laugh in your face if you suggested that any actor should receive an Oscar for playing Batman. The Academy loves showy.

The Academy also seemingly has contempt for what its voters deem purely “comedic” performances in films that aren’t “important.” So, Gosling and Ferrara can receive nominations as supporting players in a comedy. It’s as if an entire category is a big consolation prize.

Robbie was last nominated for Best Actress in 2018 for I, Tonya. That was the ideal Academy performance: She had to “deglam” herself to play Tonya Harding. The Academy loves when actors wear a fake nose, screw up their skin, and gain or lose 100 pounds (extra points for both). They are in a perpetual state of Missouri when it comes to recognizing a performance.

Oh, hey, some Black folks were also nominated, and by “some,” I mean five: The great Colman Domingo (Rustin) and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) were nominated for Best Actor; Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction) for Best Supporting Actor; and Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers) were nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

Here is the full list of nominees if you have the same check-the-box obsession as my former coworker. My God, that poor woman sat through Green Book.

Follow Stephen Robinson on Bluesky and Threads.

Subscribe to his YouTube channel for more fun content.