Birds of Prey follows Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie, after her painful break-up with the Joker. She and the Joker are through for good and it’s time for Harley Quinn to stand on her own feet – something that proves to be a lot more difficult than she expected. Without Joker’s protection, she finds she has a rather large target on her back. Harley is joined by Dinah Lance/Black Canary, played by Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Helena Bertinelli/Huntress, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Detective Renee Montoya, played by Rosie Perez, and young pick-pocket Cassandra Cain, played by Ella Jay Basco.
The movie works because it’s funny, exciting and has great characters. I liked all the female leads, but Robbie’s Harley Quinn really steals the show. The humor works. Every time Harley Quinn is on-screen something funny happens. She reminds me a bit of an even more eccentric Holly Golightly. With a bat and a mallet and a penchant for violence.
There’s a whole scene dedicated to her buying the perfect breakfast sandwich and then getting chased through the Gotham streets with it tucked into her shirt. She plays roller derby with a vengeance. In addition to the humor, the weird disjointed way Harley tells the story also adds to the whole experience. She narrates, first in an animated opening segment, and then throughout, but she’s not very good at keeping things in order, so the movie bounces around a little bit with timelines. She has to back up more than once to fill in some details. It’s clever and any confusion is quickly cleared up. 
Ultimately, I really enjoyed Birds of Prey even though I agree it would have been stronger if the Joker had been the primary antagonist instead of Black Mask. The humor and zany action throughout the film were on point, and Robbie is clearly having a great time as Harley Quinn, a role she was born to play.