Nadia

This is a good example a film that in spite of the low rating is more than worth watching. The story is engaging and it doesn't take long before the chemistry between Nicole Kidman and Ben Chaplin grabs your attention. The acting is first class and the characters are represented well. Sometimes it feels like the director couldn't decide himself between drama and romantic comedy. Ben Chiller's portrayal of the law abiding and shy Englishman with porn S.M. magazines hidden in the bedroom creates plenty of moments for laughs! As does the look in Nicole Kidman's eyes when she is offering John his first taste of intimacy in a long time... Other times the actors and especially Nicole Kidman give this comedy quite expertly a dramatic slant.

Birthday Girl has a not too bad premise- good old English chum decides out of lonliness and maybe something else to order a mail order bride from Russia. It turns out, his order is not quite what he wanted, but she (Nicole Kidman) seems like a nice enough wife, until not what was planned happens in a series of events getting the english chum and his russian bride on the run. Sometimes amusing, but it is not good enough as a movie since it can never really get into its characters and seems to float for part of the 2nd act and 3rd act. Kidman is still sexy though. C+

John (Ben Chaplin) is a hapless bachelor in St. Albans, looking for love in all the wrong places. So he goes online and orders a Russian mail-order bride. She arrives in the form of Nicole Kidman. Although her background is questionable and her English is fragmented, she's great in bed, so he has no complaints.

However when her "cousins" appear at his door a whole new world of deception and violence opens up for John, pulling him deeper and deeper under.

The premise for the film is fairly good, but the overall execution is just so-so. Nicole Kidman gives a really good performance (worthy of a better film) but Ben Chaplin is just OK. He slaps her around a bit, which is about as daring as his character manages to be. Anyone could play the role, so he's kind of stuck in a rut.

The movie is grungy, dark and feels independent - it's hard to imagine Hollywood royalty Nicole Kidman signing onto it, but she is really the reason this film remains interesting and engaging. Without her, I don't think I would have bothered to sit through all of it.

For a film that got little publicity, and few people have heard about, this was pretty good. It's another one of these modern-day British crime films that are quirky ("Snatch," "Sexy Beast," etc.). It's not wild like "Snatch" but it's interesting and it has some rough characters.

It also has a corny and somewhat predictable ending but early in the show - not late - has some neat twists to make it very interesting for the first-time viewer. Basically, it's about a low-key British male who sends away for a Russian "mail order bride" who winds up, with the aid of two Russian male friends, providing a couple of big surprises.

Ben Chapin and Nicole Kidman co-star, and are very good as are Vincent Cassel and Matthieu Kassovitz as Kidman's Russian cohorts. This is a different kind of film and well-acted. Kidman once again proves she's far more than just a beautiful face.

This is a clever, funny, sexy movie that starts as a romantic comedy and then becomes an edgy thriller.

Nerdy bank clerk, John Buckingham (Ben Chaplin) lives in a semi-rural town not far from London. When he orders a Russian mail order bride over the Internet, she duly self-delivers herself to the airport in the form of Nadia (Nicole Kidman). One of his main requirements in the arrangement was, "Someone you can really talk to. I think communication is key". But as John drives her home, he realises that Nadia can't speak English - or seems not to.

Although John at first desperately tries to contact the aptly named 'From Russia with Love' marriage agency to cancel the deal, the language barrier becomes far less important when he discovers that Nadia is sexually adventurous and encourages him to indulge his every fantasy with her.

Everything seems to be going perfectly for John until Nadia's Russian cousin, Yuri (Mathieu Kassovitz), and his friend Alexei (Vincent Cassel) turn up and overwhelm his life. Effusively friendly at first, they soon prove disturbingly dangerous, and John realises that all is not as it seems.

The plot heads into unpredictable territory and although the ending is pretty crazy it is also satisfying in light of all the revelations that take place along the way.

The film has a lightness of touch, but also a dark side. If I could compare it with any other film it might be Jonathan Demme's "Something Wild" - the sexually aggressive girl, the nerdy guy, the slowly blossoming relationship and the intrusion of a psychotic and dangerous boyfriend. The basic ingredients work in both movies.

Ben Chaplin hits just the right note as the colourless bank clerk who actually has a repressed wild side, he just needs the right person to unlock it and set it loose. His performance is both funny and engaging.

Pretty, sexy, and slim almost to the point of fragility, Nicole Kidman's Nadia looks vulnerable, but as we discover as the story unfolds, looks are deceiving. This is a captivating performance; she has little dialogue - and half of that is in Russian.

The amazing Vincent Cassel plays Alexei. No one can play dangerous like this guy. I didn't realise that he made "Birthday Girl" before "Irreversible". His role here was a good warm up, he exudes unpredictability - look at that martial arts kick he does when he is jogging with John. It is an indication of John's growth of character when he actually takes him on.

A lot of reviewers regard this as a flawed work, but I'm not so sure I can see the flaws. I enjoyed it from start to finish - I couldn't see how it was actually going to end, but it felt about right when it did.