The Cover

He finds a young woman, Nadia, who arrives in the UK ready for his love. But all is not as John expected - his bride doesn't speak any English. On a side note, I can't for the life of me understand why John isn't more receptive to a bride who just smiles and fulfills every sexual whim, whether he expresses an interest or not. Who cares if she can't speak English? That's pretty much the smallest surprise that John will receive during his entire adventure.

Surprises abound in this movie, and I’m not about to ruin any of them. But let's just say that nothing is at it appears. The Birthday Girl is a dark comedy which manages to mix in other elements - thrillers, drama. It's structured in a way that reminded me of several O. Henry stories butted up against each other. There's several ironic turns in each section that keeps the audience on their toes, but really never tells us more about the characters themselves. This isn't so much a character study as a plot study kind of movie, entertaining in its own right of course. And we've got Nick.

Nicole Kidman is a good actress. There. I've said it. She manages to go beyond the hype of her own stardom and truly make some great films. She nails the Russian accent and dialogue and for a moment you forget that's she Australian and she was once married to midgety Tom Cruise. Vincent Cassel also puts in a great performance as a Russian visitor. He's a French actor who's famous in that part of the world. I know it's a hard flick to track down (only on VHS here in the States) but check him out in one of my favorite French films called La Haine (Hate). It's the kind of film you should watch if you hate foreign films but want to feel cultured. Very cool movie.

The Birthday Girl is far from perfect filmmaking, but it is extremely well done. Fans of comedic romance, thrillers, crime comedies and erotic-tinged movies will find something to love here.

Movie Grade: B+

Video: 4 out of 5
Clean and cool, the film looks a lot better than I remember seeing in the promotional photos. It's well shot and I can't think of anything else to say, either good or bad.
Widescreen Anamorphic - 2.35:1

The perfect couple, no?

Audio: 3 out of 5
Foreign. Front centered, dialogue driven. Any more questions?
English (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Extras: 1 out of 5
Damn. Hoping for more on this one. A five minute making-of (no more than promotional fluff), some trailers and a music video.

Overall: 3 out of 5
The Birthday Girl is the kind of film you foreign evangelists should buy. Show it to your friends who hate foreign flicks and subtitles (then go and find La Haine.)

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