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   Babygirl
review by Bobby Blakey

In 2022 director Halina Rejin made her English-language directorial debut with the horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies. The film was a decent hit, and a fun flick so was interested to see what she might do next. Her new film Babygirl has been getting critical acclaim and stars Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, and Sophie Wilde, but does it live up to hype or will it be a relationship not worth pursuing?

Babygirl follows a high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much-younger intern. These kinds of films have been made a billion times and when they work, they can bring some great scandalous end results, but they can also end up being forgettable and generic.

I will be the first to admit I am not the biggest fan of Nicole Kidman, so I wasn’t overly interested in seeing this film, but after hearing such great things I had to check it out. The story is familiar with some interesting twists and turns with a story focused on power, betrayal, sex, romance, and finding ones self-worth. It is a perfect blend that manages to bring an engaging film to life that is sadly way too slow and long.

Kidman is fantastic going all in emotionally and physically bringing this woman to life. She is clearly missing something and searching through her own sexual needs that she isn’t getting at home in the way she needs. She truly gave everything to this role and is the strongest part of the film in every way. The rest of the cast are fine, but this is her film all the way and no wonder she is getting recognition for it.

The problem for me is that the film is too long and tends to repeat itself in its story. There is what seemed unnecessary back and forth numerous times that took me out

of the impact and just got bored at times. Mind you it doesn’t hit the boredom of Fifty Shades of Grey but needs to be trimmed down. The initial power dynamic of their relationship building is interesting and reminded me of the film Secretary in how strange it was but works.

I was initially sucked into the strange nature of their relationship and loved the final sequences and how it showcased both characters, but I as sadly just bored more often than not. Maybe this film will connect to others, but for me it missed the mark on what it could have been.

It is worth checking out for Kidman’s performance alone so decide for yourself and check out Babygirl in theaters now from A24.        

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