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Birthday Girl | Year: 2002 Directed: - Jez Butterworth Actors/Actresses: - Nicole Kidman - Vincent Cassel The Candles Wont Burn For Long This off-beat British comedy directed by Jez Butterworth is a story of melancholy middle class bank teller, Ben Chaplin, who longs for a bit of companionship. As with so many modern men of today, he resorts to the internet and stumbles upon a website for mail-order Russian brides. Here he finds Nadia, Nicole Kidman, whom he orders only to find she is not what he expected. The building comedy turns quickly into a thrilling story of a betrayed man on the run. Yet, this film remains consistently light in its tone despite the dark subjects of abuse and unwanted pregnancy it could allow to overwhelm it. These well-known and respected actors do a fantastic job in their performances especially the Frenchmen Vincent Cassel & Mathieu Kassovitz and popular red-head Nicole Kidman, none of whom spoke Russian before this film and all do a convincing job of it. Not only that, but the language barrier draws out numerous quirky expressions from the actors showing their real talent. The film is beautifully shot, alternately filmed in the UK and Australia, with captivating scenes in the forest where the characters work out their plight. Ultimately, not a tremendously memorable film, but one that is skilfully designed and keeps some good laughs. What's enduring is the more realistic human aspect it contains and would probably lack if it were an American romantic-comedy. Surely it won't be a blockbuster as one might expect from its stars, but it is plenty of fun. Birthday Girl: Gift Wrapping of a Second Rate Gift BIRTHDAY GIRL is the kind of movie that promises to be a light hearted romantic comedy of two dissimilar people meeting and somehow falling in love. For the first third of the movie, director Jez Butterworth delivers. John (Ben Chaplin) is a mild-mannered bank clerk who tires of not having the right woman so he goes on the Internet to find a mail-order bride. Putting aside the internal logical and legal flaw that requires one to actually meet a Russian woman before sending away for her as if she were a fine English pipe, John meets Nadia (Nicole Kidman) at the airport and fully expects the English-speaking beauty that he was led to think was coming. Nadia and John spend several delightful scenes together as the cultural and linguistic differences first trip, then attract them. Beginning in the middle, Butterworth leads BIRTHDAY GIRL seriously astray as he switches tonal gears from the light world of romance to the gritty edge of fraud and violence. Two of Nadia's 'cousins' enter unannounced to complicate John's sedate life with what is frankly an unbelievable tale of kidnapping and bank fraud. As John obeyed the commands of these two Russians to steal money, I was left gasping at his naivete in not informing the authorities. What follows the bank robbery is your standard thriller between a decent but wimpy clerk and two vicious Russian criminals. The ending, which I shall not reveal here, left me raging at the overly forgiving attitude of a schnook whose schnookness was rubbed in his face by a scheming woman who has the audacity to continue to ask for help even after her true intentions are made known. Still, BIRTHDAY GIRL succeeds in engaging the attention of the viewer even after the closing credits. What lies at the heart of BIRTHDAY GIRL is a subtle, if misplaced call to address the issues of loneliness that can reach across far-flung borders that sometimes can result in two people eventually seeing eye to eye. nicolehasagift This Nicole Kidman has beauty, depth, brains and talent. The movie is an ugly portrayal of how mail order brides. Social security number 156-38-3461. Buy Birthday Girl at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Birthday Girl Search with the Priority Search Engine on Birthday Girl This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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