Nicole Kidman’s career has spanned nearly 35 years in America and around the world. She has done it all in Hollywood and abroad. She won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Virginia Woolf in The Hours and she could have won a couple more. She’s 57 years old, but she’s doing enough work for a woman half her age. She’s working non-stop. Her latest movie is Babygirl, an A24 erotic thriller.  She’s working opposite a young actor who has been popping everywhere. Together they create a lot of steam on the big screen.

Rome (Nicole Kidman) is a married woman with two daughters and she’s the CEO/Owner of her own tech-based business Tensile Automotive. An AI-based shopping/delivery service. Something tells me this is a model not too far in the distant future the way things are going in this country. She’s a self-made woman who has made it to the top with her own blood, sweat, and tears. Her life is very busy and regimented. When some new interns come into the office one named Samuel (Harris Dickinson) catches her eye. She starts to mentor him, but she needs something better in her life and this leads to a more intimate relationship between the boss and the young employee.

I think everybody knows of the thing that gets a lot of men fired or canceled if you’re a celebrity by now. It created a cause called the ‘Me Too” movement. Many men thought they could treat women in a negative connotation or rather any way they saw fit because they were bosses or rich men with power in life. Such as politicians, CEOs, aforementioned celebrities, musicians, actors or athletes, and other well-known men from around the world. They thought they had the power of women to make them do whatever they wanted. This film professes that a woman would do the same as all of these named men. I don’t believe a woman would do this in this day and age. Especially since they supposedly worked so hard to get to the top of their field or industry. Why would they jeopardize that success? I don’t know, I can’t see any woman doing it. No woman who worked so hard wants to be treated like s#!t because they’re bored with their husband, sex life, and so forth. Could this happen, I don’t believe it though. That’s where this movie failed in my humble opinion.

There are a few characters besides Kidman and Dickinson that round out the cast. Sophie Wilde (Talk To Me) plays Esme, an underling of Kidman’s character who wants to be promoted and shown respect by her boss, but she makes a key mistake in her life choices. Never try to outsmart your boss especially when she’s a woman. Wilde is good in the role, but her character was not fleshed out enough because of the relationship between Kidman and Dickinson’s characters for my liking. She was great in Talk To Me Though. Its a shame she wast used as well as id hoped. The next actor who I thought was underutilized was Antonio Banderas, one of the best actors of his generation as Kidman’s character’s husband. He had one moment of brilliance, but it wasn’t enough for me. I hated to see him be wasted like this, in Kidman’s shadow. He deserved better than that. The third is the Actress who plays Kidman’s character’s daughter, Esther Rose McGregor, the daughter of Ewan McGregor. She had some good moments, but again they didn’t go as far as I’d liked them to go.  Also, her subplot was wasted in this film. This was basically a Kidman vehicle to flex her muscles in and the supporting cast kind of got left on the bench, except for Dickinson that is.

I worked in many jobs in my day and I had a woman boss one time. From my experience, any woman who worked their way to the top of any business wouldn’t jeopardize their career by having a fling or some kind of mid-life crisis if you will with a subordinate like in this movie. No matter how good-looking they are. Dickinson is a good-looking man there is no doubt about that. Writer/director Halina Reijn also directed Bodies, Bodies, Bodies when she created a horror film with a great twist ending. I think it is a step down for her from that innovative and original film.  She brought the women’s movement backward with this movie. The character Kidman plays has great things about her until she chooses this path layer in the story. I can see why Kidman took the role though it’s a starring role for a 57-year-old actress. It’s just not a very realistic scenario to me for a woman to do this.

Dickinson is an actor who’s been getting some juicy roles. He also appeared in Steve MaQueen’s last movie, Blitz opposite Saoirse Ronan. He starred in Triangle of Sadness as well where he had a good role besides the scene-stealing Dolly Deleone. The story tries to make him out to be some heartthrob or genius or something. He’s not though he is just a guy who feeds dogs treats as a parlor trick on the sidewalk of a packed city street. His character isn’t that special. I would have liked this role if I had to see this again or reimagined played by somebody a bit better. Maybe Barry Keoghan instead. I loved what he did in Saltburn. I am looking forward to him getting the George Harrison role in the Beatles project from Oscar-winning director Sam Mendez though. That would be intriguing to me. He has an upside to his career though, I just don’t think this is his best work.

Babygirl has a basic premise the writer/ director wants viewers to go along with. I know we’ve all seen this type of story from a man’s perspective and on the news quite a lot in the last decade or so. It is fresh in people’s minds. I am not buying what Reijn is selling though. No in this day and age after what women have been put through for many many years. Could it happen for sure? I just don’t believe it. Kidman is flexing her chiseled muscles in this role. It’s probably one she sank her teeth into. The rest of the cast were wasted in smaller or less interesting roles. The concept overall isn’t a bad one, but if you can’t get past the main premise the film falls apart. And that is what it did for me. It was like a house of cards falling down from lack of support.

2 stars

Dan Skip Allen