Last year, Nicole Kidman was nothing short of amazing in both of her films, The Others and Moulin Rouge. Miramax, hoping to capitalize on her recent critical appeal has released Birthday Girl early this new year with ad campaigns toting the performance of Kidman. And it would appear that the campaign paid off. The one reason I saw this movie (other than to review it) is to see how Kidman can perform in yet another new character with a completely off-center performance required of her. Quite simply, Kidman once again lives up to her name and turns in a quirky, yet riveting performance.

John (Ben Chaplin), is a bank teller in a small town in England who has been going through the same routine day after day for 10 years and has yet to find his soulmate. Although he knows that finding a bride on the Internet is a risky idea, he figures, you've got to take risks to be rewarded. After placing an "order" for Nadia (Kidman), John travels the 40 or so miles to the airport to pick her up, only to find himself seemingly alone in the terminal. When he turns around, he sees a most beautiful woman just standing there, admiring him. The only problem is, as he finds out on the way home, she doesn't speak English (as promised by the agency), and she smokes despite being told she didn't. The smoking John can look past, but he desperately needs a form of communication with the raven-haired beauty and he immediately places calls to the agency, "From Russia With Love." Just when John has given up completely, he finds Nadia willing to do things both in bed and without, and eventually, John finds out that that there's different ways to communicate and eventually falls in love with Nadia.

But that can't be the end of the movie...oh no, we've got to throw in some twists and turns to keep the movie going and not just degrading into a sappy love story. Now, it'd ruin the movie if I revealed the rest of the plot, so I'll leave it for you to discover - because it is worth at least the price of a matinee admission. Rather, I'll delve into the superior acting of Nicole Kidman in this, her most recent film. Showing up at the airport, standing alone with her luggage, Nicole radiates a certain mysterious beauty about herself, but when she opens her mouth, all she can say is, "yes." It's a real treat to watch most of this movie with Kidman not being able to speak English in England. Her performance is subtle, yet powerful as she is able to use body language and emotions to "talk" to her new husband. Her performance single-handedly carries this film from start to finish, and while Ben Chaplin also does his part to keep the film from failing, this film rests on the shoulders of Kidman.

The script itself leaves a bit to be desired as this scant 93 minute film seems like it takes a bit longer to finish with a very slow start before the real fun begins, but the advantage to this slow start is, this is really where Kidman turns in her best performance. So it's really a toss-up as to whether the script is to blame or the director - for ultimately it was his decision to keep on filming Kidman in her most raw and vulnerable state.

Birthday Girl is a fun and entertaining film, despite being a bit slow at times. If anything, see this film for the once-again great performance turned in by the captivating Kidman. She's a real treat in this most-interesting film.

Genres: Romance, Comedy
Rated: R - For language, nudity, and sexual situations.
Runtime: 93 minutes
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