Birthday Girl
Review by Clint Morris
 On
that titular day of celebration, one likes to unwrap present
after present, eager to find something wonderful inside.
And, like a hurried parent before a child's birthday, Nicole
Kidman's latest vehicle, Birthday Girl, lacks deliberation
and imagination, instead exposed for the generic offering
it is.
Passable, yet hardly pioneering, Jez Butterworth's Birthday
Girl is the old "con woman takes unsuspecting loser
for a ride" tale flogged off as a "must-see movie
with one of this generation's best actresses".
Don't be fooled though, you've seen all the trickery, deception
and seediness of Birthday Girl's plot before, and probably
on the bottom shelf of the video store. But while it is old-hat,
there are still some vigorous moments and an energized Kidman
to keep you entertained.
Kidman's our con-woman, Russian mail-order bride Nadia, and
she's been ordered over the Internet by our token loser, English
banker John (Ben Chaplin).
John's a little thwarted when he finds out his bride can't
speak a word of English, but still, that's about to become
the least of his problems. Before John can say 'huh?' he is
smack bang into a seedy criminal stratagem to suck him of
his respect, reputation and most importantly, of his Bank's
finances.
Birthday Girl, while being merely an amalgam of The
Last Seduction and The Grifters, is also minutely
indecisive. It's got a healthy doses of black humor, but then,
all of a sudden, a gush of dramatic tension and thrills.
It works for some movies, but not for others.
Another problem with the film is the casting. Kidman is sensational
as Nadia right from the watertight accent to the artfully
seductive demeanor, and while Chaplin is suitably dumfounded
as John, there's no evident sparks in sight. In the end, the
whole thing's a bit inconsequential.
But like so many movies, especially one with a template that's
been used time and time again, there's still something alluring.
For Birthday Girl it's the mild interest factor as
to whether our two leads will inevitably make it as a couple.
At the same time, Kidman makes you forget that a lot of Birthday
Girl is rehash, melting every frame with her mesmeric
existence.
3 out of 5
Birthday Girl
Australian release: Thursday August 8
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Ben Chaplin, Vincent Cassel, Mathieu
Kassovitz, Kate Evans, Xander Armstrong.
Director: Jez Butterworth.
Website: N/A
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