The concept of a “strong female character” has evolved over the years. What first began as a push to create more multifaceted women onscreen seemed to give rise to female characters who a) didn’t require a love interest and/or b) wielded some kind of weapon and kicked a lot of ʙuтт. And, considering there wasn’t a lot of that beforehand, it was admittedly really awesome to see.

Now we’ve reached a point where we’re looking for more layered female characters. A variety of women who can be messy, empowered, kind, vulnerable, and, yes, hold their own against the Captain Americas and Luke Skywalkers in a fight. Basically, we’re looking for diversity.

Margot Robbie, along with director Greta Gerwig, delivered this in spades with Barbie, a pink explosion of all kinds of femininity, from the conventional to the weird. In 2023, it was a breath of fresh air, and Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie went on an arc that spoke to women — and even people of other genders — everywhere.

That’s why it’s a bit disappointing to see that her character in this weekend’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey feels like a step back. At the very least, it’s a return to the shallow characterizations Barbie sought to avoid, and it ultimately makes the entire movie, which follows two strangers who embark on a fantastical journey through their pasts, feel hollow.

Margot Robbie’s Big Bold Beautiful Journey Character Is A Shallow Female Character — Unlike Her Barbie

In A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Robbie’s Sarah is your standard Damaged Girl. Within mere minutes of meeting David (Colin Farrell), she bluntly tells him that she’ll only hurt him, because that’s just what she does. Later, she goes into great detail about why she’s a cheater, treating it as a foregone conclusion, a compulsion written into her DNA rather than, I don’t know, a really bad habit.

This, in general, is her constant refrain throughout the entire movie. She’s afraid to love, and she’s prone to hurting people. She repeats it ad nauseam, to the point where I wanted to reach through the screen, take her by the shoulders, and say, “Have you ever considered therapy? Or not talking?“

Sarah is a character we’ve seen many times. She’s the bruised woman who is wary of love, but don’t worry, she’ll learn the value of it by the end of the movie! (Spoilers for the ending of A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.) Inherently, this isn’t a bad archetype. If done with care, she can have a really satisfying and fulfilling story. Trainwreck and Palm Springs come to mind for me.

The problem here is that there isn’t much more to Sarah’s character beyond her broad declarations of how she’s terrible at relationships. We know she avoided being with her mother when she died — because she was too busy having an affair with her professor, naturally — and losing her mom is one of the things that closed her off emotionally. It’s all very textbook.

Robbie’s Barbie character is nothing like Sarah, and there isn’t really anyone within that movie who would fit this bill. Nevertheless, it features a number of female characters who feel like real people, not stock characters. This is especially true for Robbie’s Barbie, whose name literally references how she begins as a stereotype.

Throughout the movie, she transcends the archetype of a perfectly put-together doll and learns what true femininity is. She becomes a well-rounded person, one who cries openly at seeing humans go about their everyday lives, who loses confidence in herself, but later rallies and learns the value of being someone who feels everything.

It’s a bummer to see Robbie’s latest movie character — her first since Barbie — is a much flatter depiction of a flawed female character. If anything, it just emphasizes how remarkable Barbie is, and further demonstrates the work that can be done. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey isn’t without its strengths, but Sarah’s characterization just isn’t it.