Birthday Girl Review
by Eugene Novikov (lordeugene_98 AT yahoo DOT com)March 27th, 2002
Birthday Girl (2002)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"Are you a giraffe?"
"Yes...
Starring Ben Chaplin, Nicole Kidman, Matthieu Kassovitz, Vincent Cassel. Directed by Jez Butterworth. Rated R.
Birthday Girl is a cool little genre-hopper that will end its theatrical run before you can say "Nicole Kidman?" It's unique and self-effacing, with director Jez Butterworth evidently aspiring to be a mix of Guy Ritchie and Ben Stiller. And even if you don't go for such a blend, admittedly an acquired taste, I dare you to hate this puppy-dog likeable movie. Butterworth owes a debt to Nicole Kidman for re-breaking-out in 2001, causing the studio to dust off this shelved movie, but we should also be grateful for being permitted to see an obscure mini-gem.
The movie was filmed when Kidman's career was in a sort of medium-heat lull, at least compared to her almost absurd current hot streak; she was coming off a tortuous Eyes Wide Shut shoot with Stanley Kubrick and was previously stuck making frivolous genre flicks (The Peacemaker?). It is unique -- priceless, even -- for having her speak Russian for at least two-thirds of the running time; it's a feat to behold for just about anyone, but especially so if you have a working knowledge of the language. What an unusual, interesting thing to do.
She plays Nadia, a mail-order bride requested by John (Ben Chaplin), a hapless, approaching-middle-age bank teller in England. His decision, an absurd one from our point of view, was the result of a "why not?" mentality, triggered by the realization that his life isn't going much of anywhere; he is comfortable, but also lonely and addicted to porn. So Nadia arrives, and John discovers that she doesn't speak a word of English. Flabbergasted, he frantically attempts to get ahold of someone at the company to "return" her, but as no one gets bakc to him, he is forced to "keep" her. His discomfort can be sliced with a knife.
Then, two thuggish Russians arrive as unexpected houseguests, claiming to be Nadia's friends, or cousins, or something. They're amiable enough, at first, or at least too harmlessly peculiar to warrant a boot out. When things get too weird and he does ask him to leave, one of them gets violent, and things get hairy. The film ceases being a strange dark comedy and becomes an even stranger action thriller.
This is all really very stupid, and my fondness for this movie is probably the result of my endless amusement at the fact that an Australian and two Frenchmen (Vincent Cassel and Matthieu Kassovitz) were hired to speak Russian. Birthday Girl is predictable and utterly frivolous, with an intermittently clever script that also tends to gravitate towards the lazy and the obvious. But it has the guts to be unapologetically weird.
There are flashes of brilliance, too, such as the sight of John's co-workers repeating the same "trust exercise" over and over again, even as John steals thousands of pounds from the oddly unguarded vault (it's the one where an employee learns to trust by closing his eyes and falling backwards into the arms of awaiting colleagues; in the movie, it's an awesome Zoolander moment). The ending is funny in a what-the-hell way; it's not a surprise, but one wonders what kind of people come up with such a solution to their problems.
Though Kidman couldn't speak Russian to save her life, her performance is entertaining -- and endearing -- all the same. Once her true identity is revealed, we still like her, and the movie doesn't make the mistake of villanizing the wrong characters. Though Chaplin is clearly the leading man in the script, he takes a back seat to Kidman's show-offy turn, playing straight man to the madness going down around him. On a personal note, I didn't know he was British!
Early in the year, when films are regurgitated rather than produced, I will gladly sit through anything as odd as this, even if it's flawed. You can bet the farm that with Kidman's newfound popularity, she won't take on anything like this again for a long, long time.
Grade: B-
Up Next: The Devil's Backbone
©2002 Eugene Novikov
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
