Barbie may be rated PG-13 but it's definitely not a movie for small children. There are plenty of positive messages that young girls (and boys) can benefit from seeing, though very young viewers who hope to see their favourite dolls come to life might end up a little surprised by the story that plays out.
After all, we're talking about a Barbie who is facing an existential crisis and a Ken who brings toxic masculinity into Barbieland after visiting the real world!
It's still surprising that Mattel signed off on much of what happens in the movie, but the result is both a film of the year contender and a release which is shaping up to be 2023's biggest box office hit (outgrossing superheroes, sequels, and more).
There's one F-Bomb in Barbie, and it ends up being hilariously censored by a Mattel logo after being uttered by President Barbie (Issa Rae). Now, though, director Greta Gerwig has confirmed the movie very nearly kicked off by dropping a "f**k" from Dame Helen Mirren!
"Suffice to say, there was a sort of extended joke with Marie Curie, which didn't end up being part of [the final cut]," the filmmaker tells Cinema Blend. "But yes, there was a page-one F-bomb that sort of set the tone for the whole thing."
"What the line was, it was actually Helen Mirren saying to Marie Curie, ‘Pipe the f**k down, Marie Curie!’ That was like my favourite [line] but we knew we only got one F-bomb, and we were like, ‘Let's use it at the very beginning.’ And there's just something, to me, [about] Helen Muren saying, 'Pipe the [frick] down, Marie Curie.'"
Gerwig goes on to reveal that Mirren did, in fact, record this line which means it's hidden somewhere in Warner Bros.' vaults. Hopefully, the cut sequence is going to be included as a deleted scene on Barbie's eventual Blu-ray release.
Barbie is now playing in theaters worldwide.