Birthday Girl ** (2001, Nicole Kidman, Ben Chaplin, Mathieu Kassovitz, Vincent Cassel) – Classic Movie Review 1436

Good but underwhelming, co-writer/director Jez Butterworth’s 2001 British comedy thriller ends up entertaining but surprisingly disposable and a bit disappointing.

Nicole Kidman comes to Britain to show off her versatility as a Russian Internet-mail-order bride who does not speak zee English that her groom-to-be (Ben Chaplin), a thirtysomething bank clerk from St Albans, is expecting. This being a film with a twisted scenario, Kidman naturally isn’t who she seems and the Englishman’s small-town life is exploded by her arrival. When Kidman’s ‘cousins’ (Mathieu Kassovitz and Vincent Cassel) unexpectedly arrive to celebrate her birthday, Chaplin is drawn into their games of corruption and crime.

If Jez and Tom Butterworth’s screenplay lacks sparkle and polish, the acting certainly comes to its rescue. Ben Chaplin does well as the meek, staid bank cashier caught in the spider’s web, Kidman’s her usual class act and French stars Mathieu Kassovitz and Vincent Cassel are plenty zany enough as Kidman’s wacky Russian partners-in-crime.

Kidman went to the Russian Embassy in Australia for help in speaking Russian. A woman from the embassy was the only coach she worked with on set. In the film English and Russian are spoken interchangeably.

Nicole Kidman stars as Sophia/Nadia in Birthday Girl.

Birthday Girl stars Nicole Kidman as Sophia/Nadia, Ben Chaplin as John Buckingham, Vincent Cassel as Alexei and Mathieu Kassovitz as Yuri. Also in the cast are Kate Evans as Clare, Stephen Mangan as bank manager, Xander Armstrong as Robert Moseley, Sally Phillips as Karen, Jo McInnes as waitress, Ben Miller as concierge and Jonathan Aris as D I O’Fetiger.

Birthday Girl is directed by Jez Butterworth, runs 93 minutes, is produced by Film Four, HAL Films, Mirage, Portobello and Miramax, is released by Buena Vista, is written by Jez Butterworth and Tom Butterworth, is shot by Oliver Stapleton, is produced by Sydney Pollack, Steve Butterworth, Diana Phillips and Eric Abraham, is scored by Stephen Warbeck and designed by Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski.

It cost $13 million and grossed $16,171,000.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1436

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