A man looking for love gets more than he bargained for when he chooses his prospective wife on the internet in this dark comedy. The manager of a bank in a small British community (Ben Chaplin) decides that he's in need of long-term companionship, and through an on-line marriage broker called From Russia With Love, he obtains a "mail order" bride (Nicole Kidman). While he's more than pleased that his new fiancée is so beautiful, she turns out to have a dangerous and mysterious side that he
wasn't counting on, and things become quite complicated when two of her cousins (Vincent Cassel and Mathieu Kassovitz) arrive from Russia and move into his tiny house in St. Albans. Though set in England, Birthday Girl was actually shot in Australia, which allowed leading lady Nicole Kidman to stay in touch with her then- husband, Tom Cruise, who was shooting Mission: Impossible II in Australia at the same time. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
'Butterfingered' is the word for the big-fisted direction of Jez Butterworth, who manages to blast even the smallest sensitivities from the romance with his clamorous approach.
A deceptively clever romantic comedy that is also part caper, part thriller and a perfect vehicle for both Ms. Kidman and her talented co-star, Ben Chaplin.
It's all over the road -- sometimes farce, sometimes horror, sometimes thriller, sometimes police procedural. And the truth is, no one in it is particularly sympathetic.
There are enough well layered performances in director/co-writer Jez Butterworth's "Birthday Girl" to all but compensate for the film's inept noir flirtations between romantic farce and theft thriller.
O filme tenta ser comédia romântica, suspense erótico, thriller e assim por diante. A única que se salva é Kidman, belíssima como sempre e com um sotaque russo sedutor.
Butterworth has an effective directorial shorthand and the film is full of small, unobtrusive touches that smartly enhance the scenes. Kidman, of course, is magnetic; her absorbing performance makes this Birthday party one worth attending.
It's not a good movie but it was okay to watch. Ben Chaplin is good...Vincent Cassel is good. And Nicole Kidman's russian sound like an asian speaking russian. I wouldn't recomend it. But it's not bad or boring.
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