Lots of good movies get lost in the mix. I'm not talking about mediocre movies or ones that don't have anything going for them. No, I mean those movies that you walk away from fully entertained and pleased with having spent your money. These are the ones that get talked about the least, and \Birthday Girl"" is one of them.
Everyone, including myself, loves going on and on about terrible movies. I can still hash out a pretty long-winded argument on the competition between ""Scary Movie"" and ""National Lampoon's Last Resort"" for worst movie of all time. (Third and forth go to the Corey Feldman directed ""B.U.S.T.E.D."" and all-star ""Cradle Will Rock."") And great movies get all sorts of attention from critics, praise or otherwise. We all love picking out the little details of a great film, finding its surprises or, better yet, its faults. It makes us feel like we're better critics than our peers'hence, the ""Most Overrated Film of the Year"" category that gets tacked on to most lists.
But, what of those movies with too high a budget to be hip and too low of one to get Oscar's attention? Nicole Kidman's ""Birthday Girl"" was shelved for three years after its finish, even though it's a very good movie. It's a mix between crime caper and love story, and while that mix normally goes flat, ""Birthday Girl"" keeps it interesting. It takes only the best parts of romantic comedy'the sweetness of an inside joke, the awkwardness being overcome'and leaves behind all the trite.
Ben Chaplin plays a milk toast bank teller in drab, small-town England. The film opens with him selecting a mail-order bride from Russia, who turns out to be Nadia, played by Nicole Kidman. He's upset that she doesn't speak English, but gets over it with the help of lots of sex. However, when Nadia's friends from Russia arrive for her birthday party, things get dangerous. Chaplin gets sucked into the lives and actions of criminals. At every opportunity he has to get out of it, though, this lonely banker can't resist the lure of excitement.
The story is nothing new, really. The same themes and twists were gone over recently in Steve Martin's ""Novocaine."" However, ""Birthday Girl"" makes the genre seem fresh with new takes on its characters. Chaplin does play the lead in a romance, but unlike almost all Hollywood love stories, his faults aren't easily-overcome character quirks. The plot sets it up that this has to be the kind of guy who would order a wife over the Internet. He has all those shy, distanced qualities listed in his job evaluation, but he also has hidden fetishes and pent up anger. That the film can make us eagerly root for someone leaning just over the side of dislikable is a big accomplishment.
Kidman, too, gets a new take on an old character. Sure, she's got financial and relationship problems that pushed her into this kind of life. But, she never gets to make that speech to explain it all away. Chaplin cuts her off before she can absolve herself of her sins. Instead, it all has to come out in her eyes. The desperation, longing and her shifting allegiances all have to come out through a mask of toughness. Kidman does an excellent job in ""Birthday Girl"" and deserves the same attention for it that she has gotten for her last few films.
Overall, ""Birthday Girl"" is a really good movie. It's not one of the great movies, not one to run out and buy for a home library, but it really is what the bulk of entertainment should strive for'a movie worth the overblown price of a ticket. Even if it doesn't get talked about much.
If you see ""Birthday Girl"" and like it, try ""Novocaine."" That movie wasn't quite as good as this one, but it's interesting to look for comparisons in the sub-genre. For instance, are the similarities in dress and makeup between Kidman and Helena Bonham Carter a requirement for this kind of movie?
