Birthday Girl missing candles
by Nick Nance, reporter

    Finding love is a difficult process for everyone. However, rarely does it involve danger, the Internet, Russian con artists or a bank hold-up.

   In the new film Birthday Girl, John (Ben Chaplin), the well-liked easy going banker, gets tired of waiting for the right girl to come along.

   He takes his chances on a Russian mail-order bride arranged via the Internet.

   Things don’t go as planned, and John soon learns his bride Nadia (Nicole Kidman) does not speak a word of English.

   He then frantically tries to contact his new bride and the company that set up him.

   John soon realizes that he must handle their incompatibilities himself.

   As the days go by, John adapts to his lack of communication with his new bride.

   Despite their communication problems, it does not take long for them to become physically involved.

   He almost immediately shows a new attitude and excitement for the life he had been lacking.

   Just as things begin to go well with John and Nadia’s new love, Nadia’s “cousins,” Yuri (Mathieu Kassovitz) and Alexei (Vincent Cassel), make an unannounced, surprise visit.

   The cousins are not received well by John, who makes it obvious he is not comfortable with their presence.

   The film’s comedy takes a dark and drastic turn when the cousins turn out to be con men with villainous behavior.

   In what is perhaps the most dramatic scene in the movie, John is confronted by the violent tendencies of one of the cousins.

   The cousins decide to take advantage of the suburbanite’s position as a banker and demand a large monetary ransom.

   John is told that unless he comes up with the money, Nadia will be killed.

   He is then forced to make the decision between his new love and his job.

   Kidman gives a flawless performance in a movie with slow-moving and drawn-out scenes that will often leave the audience thinking more about sleep.

   Chaplin’s delivery of the dry English humor is decent, but the context is not humorous and often tiresome.

   The desperation his character suffers draws the audience’s sympathy, but Chaplin still gives a below-average acting performance.

   Birthday Girl is a fun dramatic comedy that is worthy of a weekend rental.