Birthday Girl
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.85 You Save: $6.14 (61%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.66 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Birthday Girl
Movie Review: Good Movie, Stupid People
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie, Birthday Girl, is a good movie. Do you know how certain characters just kind of aggrevate you? That is how this movie is. You want to slap the characters upside the head for making certain decisions. Other times, you may laugh or just turn your head. Parts of this film, in my opinion, were not needed to make a satisfactory movie. If those parts were not included, this could easily be rated pg-13.Movie Review: Wicked Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was awesome! If you think it looks bad, you're wrong! Dudes, just watch it because Nicole Kidman is so hot!Movie Review: Birthday Girl
Summary: 5 Stars
See it. You will like it. Short, a little slow, but ultimately rewarding. Like every birthday.Movie Review: We can all learn a lesson from this film?
Summary: 4 Stars
I lauged a lot during the course of this film. Sure, it was not the same caliber as other Dark Comedies such as; American Beauty. However, I found Nichole Kidman's portrayal of Sophia, AKA: Nadia refreshing. Kidman always seems to have roles that showcase her allure, sensuality and raw sex appeal. Seeing a more comedic side of Kidman was very enjoyable. This film had impressed me because we have characters that may not be very sophisticated on one hand. However, let us focus on the positive things. A fairly beneign, mellow and mudane beginning resembling the beginning moments during of Joe Versus The Volcanoe fills the audience with a sense of hopelessness that succintly depicts, quite accurately I might add, the hopeless and plight of one of our main characters, John whom is not very extraordinary in any sense. A seemingly boring, routine and maybe even pathetic life in the day of John played by (Ben Chaplin) shows the audience a typical day in John's life, not unlike many people in our everyday life. Fighting the dull drums of John's boring career as a bank teller, boring home life with nothing extraordinary at all to speak of during the first minutes of the movie, introduce mail order bride: Nadia played by (Nichole Kidman). John's life quickly transforms into a life that is anything but boring. John whom was anything but exciting pulls off some hilarious antics during parts of the movie. In dealing with Kidman/Nadia's supposed Cousins whom arrive without warning to help celebrate her Birthday, Chaplin and Kidman manage to pull of some hillarious physical comedy during parts of the movie. Some of the facial expressions made by Kidman and Chaplin me laugh on their own merit. It is important to look at the qualities each actor or actress has brought to life in their character. Is this one of those classics that was overlooked at the boxoffice? Not likely. Is it potentially a cult classic? Possibly. Although the cast was well accomplised overall in previous and subsequent movies, this light hearted comedy with dark undertones was funny enough that I had watched it a second time. Why? Because albeit, not a performance that was so breathtaking and mindblowing overall that I became addicted to it like a narcotic drug, this movie showcases and highlights something that I think we have overlooked. Rather than outlandish, over exaggerated physical actions and skits, excessive violence or over emphasis of sophisticated, computer generated animation and special effects, a lighter, less sophisticated approach to comedy was achieved. Getting back to basics one might say. Sure, one can clamour for a more sophisticated plot, more thorough character developement, more of this or more of that. Bottom line, if you enjoy British style humor with darker undertones, you will enjoy "Birthday Girl". This was a refreshing change of pace when compared to our new wave crop of girl power comedies, action adventure movies relying upon gobs of computer generated special effects, reality TV series which I might add are overdone, as well. In this case, more is not better. Instead of over emphasizing many minute details to the point of being a busy collage of big things, shoddily connected together in a disjointed fashion, this movie highlights the simple concept of comedy, presented in a more basic form, presented in a tasteful and digestable format. Not too heavy, not too sophisticated or complex. My impression of comedies in the past is that they are not suppose to be so complex that one needs an expert diagnosis from stem to stern in order to enjoy the finished product. Birthday Girl has many issues and messages throughout the movie that could have sidetracked the audience and taken them into a direction that would have served little purpose except to maybe gratify the obsessive compulsive person's desire to neatly compartmentalize, categorize and label each individual for for further analysis. Use your imagination, relax, watch, laugh and enjoy the movie. Quite nit picking and get back to basics. Watch this movie and have a few laughs.Movie Review: Kidman and Chaplin have a field day in black comedy
Summary: 4 Stars
In the summer of 2001, Nicole Kidman's career was redefined by the release of two critically acclaimed movies, "Moulin Rouge" and "The Others". She went from well known actress to super star. What made her victory even sweeter was that the two roles were complete opposites of each other. "Birthday Girl" was released after these two success but was actually filmed before them. This small, independent British film, though a minor league entry, is an interesting and quirky black comedy that further showcases her talents. John [Ben Chaplin] has worked in a bank for ten years. The job pays enough for him to afford a nice little house. He's dependable, thoughtful and predictable. In other words, he has no life. He secretly knows this and decides to shake up his life dramatically by picking out a Russian bride via the Internet. Her name is Nadia [Kidman], and she is false advertising personified. The ad claims she is a non-smoker fluent in English. She turns out to be a chain smoker whose command of our language is limited to "Yes" and "No". John desperately tries to reach the Internet company to find out how to ship her back. Meanwhile, Nadia discovers what turns John on. They discover the age-old universal language. Things begin to improve until two of Nadia's friends from Russia casually drop in. John learns his bride is full of surprises, most of them unpleasant. His dull, simple life is over and an exceedingly complicated and dangerous one replaces it.
Though it has flair and a touch of originality, there isn't a whole lot to "Birthday Girl". It's a diversion, and a dark one at that. There are a lot of funny scenes, but others are quite serious, as well as somewhat violent. Director Jez Butterworth, who also co-wrote the screenplay, manages this mix fairly well, but the shifts in tone will not appeal to some viewers. The main reasons to watch the movie are Kidman and her droll co-star, Chaplin, who himself needs just one lucky movie role to make him a star.