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Much has been made of Michael Cera’s performance in Barbie, where he plays a sort of bizarro-Ken: Allan, the discontinued, waifish bestie of the Barbies’ buff male counterparts. There are many Kens, but only one Allan, and that singular nature is to Cera’s benefit. Barbie takes advantage of Cera’s unique, instantly identifiable presence: He’s very good at playing the awkward, non-threatening, sweetheart. Allan, the one male doll that supports the Barbies in their fight against the Ken-triarchy, is very much all of those things—I can’t imagine that Jonathan Groff, the original pick for the character, would have been convincing as a sexless male feminist, as Cera is.
Watching Cera in Barbie, which is his first major role in a big movie arguably since Superbad, I found myself waxing nostalgic about the career he’s had. In some ways, his take on Allan—who goes from the beleaguered best friend of the Kens to the guy helping to knock them back down a peg—feels like a culmination of his roles in several past projects. There’s a Scott Pilgrim-like naivete to him. His desire to be recognized by the Kens is reminiscent of his quest for high school normalcy in Superbad. But he also has an effortless, quiet charm to him, like the “totally boss” Paulie Bleeker, who he plays in Juno, does—to the Barbies, at least.
Barbie is a major forum for Cera to play into all of these traits, ones which seem to be drawn much from real life. In interviews, Cera is calm, earnest, and naturally funny. (I speak from experience.) So, too, is Allan, who draws laughs from being a put-upon nebbish for much of the film. Allan never looks comfortable, in part due to his confusion as to why there aren’t any other Allans in Barbieland. His hilariously overzealous affinity for Ken also feels sincere in a way that is totally undeserved, considering none of the Kens pay him more than a moment’s notice.