Birthday Girl (UK)

A smart and all-round entertaining movie. The movie starts of with a slow pace and introduces to us the lonely character of John, who orders a Russian Bride through another company. He meets Nadia at the airport but is surprised when he learns that she doesnt speak any English. He thinks about sending her back but inevitably, romance blossoms. One day, Nadia tells John that its her Birthday and two of her friends pay a visit............. This is where all the fun starts. The plot thickens and moves at a greater pace. There are quite a few twists in the plot but they are all comprehendable. A dissapointment is that the movie shows lots of attempts of violence but there is no real violence actually shown. Nor is there much action, when clearly there were lots of opportunities to include some and it would have benefited the movie greatly. This might have lifted the movie from its above average level to being super. Sadly the action genre is something that british filmakers do not seem to be very good at. They have shown that they can make good romantic movies and also great horror and comedy movies. This is still a good entertaining movie.

The widescreen anamorphic transfer is great. No real signs of compression. The picture is clear of grain and reasonably colourful and rich in detail. A top transfer from FilmFour.
The sound is fairly clear and the surrounds are used. However the sound as spectacular as you may expect. There are no extras whatsoever and to top things off, there is only a still menu and no scene selection either. A poor effort.

This is a highly enjoyable movie that will appease both sexes equally. Nicole Kidman looks stunning and gives a great performance. Ben Chaplin too shows that he has real talent. The picture and sound are good but FilmFour have made no effort outside those two categories. There is a static menu with only play and subtitles. No scene selections, no extras. NOTHING. You would be surprised that this British production gives british fans nothing in this department but gives the american fans on region 1 some decent extras. If you are thinking of buying this movie, region 1 would be best.