"Babygirl" opened on Christmas Day. Let's discuss it.

This is what I wrote: "Just back from the movie theatre.....what a piece of boring crap! It is not sexy and Antonio Banderas is so disturbingly bad that I was expecting some crazy twist towards the end. No three way either. Boring, boring, boring."

"babygirl" is what chicks nowadays call soft but attractive hetero boys. The title is filled with irony.

I heard from reviews that the movie isn't meant to be that erotic and Nicole/Harris are very awkward figuring their sexual dynamic out. That sounds much more interesting, I'll see it when it's out of theaters.

I have never understood the appeal of any kind of Nicole Kidman.

Oh Nicole.

Not paying for this film because Nicole Kidman really needs to go away for awhile

Dear Nicole:

If you can’t get off on Antonio’s big pole, there’s no hope for you.

This wants so badly to be a cross between an Adrian Lyne film and Michael Critchon’s Disclosure.

This film gives female CEOs a bad name!

I don’t understand what is going on in this movie but it sure is tedious.

I love Kidman and I even struggled through The Perfect Couple, but this looks awful. I’ll be happy for her if she’s nominated, but I have no interest in seeing this.

The reviews from fans on IMDb are some of the most tepid I’ve seen.

I’m not sure I would call what Harris Dickinson is doing in this movie “acting”. It’s such a superficial, one-dimensional performance.

I mean he’s now dancing around poorly to George Michael’s Father Figure, sticking his fingers in Kidman’s mouth and I’m just embarrassed for them both.

Nicole Kidman is not getting an Oscar nomination for this. She might be served with divorce papers but she’s not getting an Oscar nomination.

Lapping up milk from a saucer…? This is so misguided.

Keith divorcing her would be surprising but hardly shocking. She works CONSTANTLY. How can you be present for your family at all working all over the world on back to back projects and then promotion tours?

R15 “ How can you be present for your family”

Because Keith isn’t heterosexual

Well, there are two teens in the house. Having raised two teens, I think they would need a mom around sometimes.

Harris Dickenson is my ideal beautiful young man. He is still beautiful on this movie, but I sense he will soon start losing his glow. Some beauties retain or even increase their beauty as they age (George Clooney, Daniel Craig, Paul Newman) and some lose their looks as they cross into middle age (Jan-Michael Vincent, Mel Gibson).

Kidman is now in that stage of her career where she is desperately holding on to her looks (surgery, surgery, etc.) I think she still looks good in this... like a beautiful woman desperate to stay on top... perfect for the part.

R14, Variation on a bathtub-water motif?

R17, Has NK struck you as the maternal type, ever?

When you consider what Demi Moore does in The Substance - creating real pathos for her character’s own wounding image of herself - Kidman barely scratches the surface of what she could’ve brought to this role. I like the director’s personality but her artistry is limited; this is as superficial and incurious as her previous film, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies which I was unable to finish it was so contrived and unengaging. She has Kidman, on screen, getting Botox injections and makes nothing of it - playing a purveyor of robotics, I thought it would turn out that she was one herself. There’s no dimension, we see nothing of her character’s need or belief that these injections make her look better. Kidman declines a topical numbing cream but it doesn’t matter, her face is already immobile, void of expression. The writer/director gets nothing from her, just puts her through her paces in some sort of cryotherapy chamber. No idea how Kidman’s character feels about this - nothing like the moving insecurity Moore brings to her role.

It also doesn’t make any sense that Kidman’s CEO character is bossed around by everybody in the company and decides within 5 minutes with Harrison to throw her entire career away on some charmless intern. She’s shown practising a presentation as if she’s learning a last minute script, instead of being the driving force and leader behind a huge corporate company. Her theatre director husband even throws in a few dated buzzy phrases like “emotional intelligence” which receive admiration in her keynote address, as if it’s all about phrasing. Her daughter takes a cab and Kidman, the high-powered tech CEO says, “That must’ve been expensive.” Sure. Everything in this film suffers from a complete lack of credibility, right down to casting Antonio Banderas as a man who can’t give his wife orgasms, y’know, until she asks for them. /smh

The cab being expensive made me laugh, what a moronic line for such affluent people. But, when the daughter begs her mother to come back home because Dad is reading the Bible....the audience laughed also. Such a bad movie.

Someone on another thread complained that when they saw this at the cinema yesterday everyone was laughing. Now that I’ve seen it, that seems to be the only appropriate response.

For her part, Kidman takes “Babygirl” to its breaking point with a performance that risks your laughter and which — as she dismantles her character’s perfection piece by piece — exposes a raw vulnerability that can be shocking. It’s the rawest thing in this movie, and it’s bliss. -Manohla Dargis NYTimes

Babygirl currently has an 81 Metascore compared to A Complete Unknown with 73 and Maria 62. Kidman's performance was praised in almost all reviews, and she has a better shot at an Oscar nomination than Angelina for the tedious, prosaic Maria

It's curious that the Babygirl haters would spend Christmas Day going to a movie starring someone that they wish would go away!

I liked it. I was entertained. I especially liked that the film wasn't trying to be edgy or transgressive like "Fifty Shades of Grey". Kidman's Romy and Dickinson's Samuel are both stumbling through this dom/sub dynamic. And as lacking as Dickinson's performance is, I think that the writer Halina Reijin gets right is these young guys who were raised on the internet and learned about sex through porn so they take on a dom persona because it's what they see in porn and try to replicate it, to ofen poor effect.

One of Ewan McGregor's daughters plays Kidman's oldest daughter. Is that a favor for the man she reportedly had an affair with while making "Moulin Rouge".

" 'Babygirl' star Nicole Kidman could heat up the Oscar race"

R26....maybe because she fakes a good orgasm?

I like Nicole generally speaking. She's done some great work over the years. All discussion of plastic surgery, workaholism, and mental illness aside, I still like the bitch. Not everything, but a lot of it. I was curious about seeing this film, but from what I'm reading, I don't know if it's worth my time or my money. I may skip a theater viewing and see Nosferatu again instead.

Here's the trailer.

What she had done to her face has been a big problem for me in her last few projects. I couldn't bear to look at her. But going from the trailer she looks not so extreme.

R26, I streamed an awards screener at home. If you go to a cinema, make sure you go to one where you can scroll on your phone half the time. It is tedious AF.

The professional reviews are a lot different than most all DL reviews. Sort of like the election. The world vs DL.

R25, that’s a generous appraisal. The Dickinson character was just nothing to me. A dog whisperer, apparently. He just didn’t hold the screen in a way that was at all compelling, not enough to turn a high-powered CEOs head. IRL, he’d never get near her and all these other people wouldn’t be deciding for her what she would do with her time - the sub/dom relationship was with her job. As Banderas demonstrated in the final moments, that twerp was nothing.

I didn’t like the way the director imposed her musical tastes on the film, it just created so much distance. That Robyn song is 15 years old - I doubt teenagers are dancing to it en masse today. Good gawd, Father Figure is probably 38 years old - if it was set in the late ‘80s, and maybe it should’ve been, I could see that but who in the present is supplying that music in a hotel room? Did Kidman put it on? Dickinson? It was SO on the nose and contrived.

Some people eat this shit up. They obviously haven’t seen 9 1/2 Weeks in a while, if at all. Not sure why this is being described as a thriller either. Did the husband kill the intern? If so, I missed that. I mean, it was basically a film about an intern who shows up unexpectedly, over and over and over. So dull.

R33.... "it was basically a film about an intern who shows up unexpectedly" and about an intern who conveniently disappeared when no longer needed and it was time to wrap up.

R24, we’re discussing the film Babygirl here. If you actually have a cogent opinion about the film please add it. But we’re sick and tired of these sad trolls who have infested DL as of late who whine about “haterz”, add nothing and just take aim at other posters who actually have opinions. Spare us your cherry picked statistical data. It’s not your job to invalidate other people. Join in the actual conversation or fuck off.

Exactly, R34. Like he had no more shooting days. 😂

As far as I'm concerned, the only straight BDSM-type movie that actually worked was 9 1/2 weeks. You young'uns who've never seen it should watch [bold]that[/bold] one if you want to learn how good this type of movie can be.

I just saw the movie. I didn't hate it, but they could have cut about a half-hour out of the movie. I enjoyed Harris' performance; he did a great job. He is still so fucking beautiful and I love it when he plays American. I also liked the actress who played Esme.

Nicole's hands are betraying her face.

Also, the origin of Samuel and Romy came out of nowhere. I think that needs some more work.

The fact that her character’s name is Romy is enough to keep me away. I hate Hollywood-focus-group-created names like Sydney Bristow and Romy. And I know Romy is a real name, Romy Schneider, etc.

R37, it would’ve been funny if the characters in Babygirl actually watched 9 1/2 Weeks to get an idea of how this thing is down since, y’know, they were “stumbling around” with it and providing their own late ‘80s soundtrack anyway.

Maybe they could’ve watched Almodovar’s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! as well.

I saw the Preview yesterday before "ACU."

The boyfriend in "Babygirl" has a face like porridge, or as I imagine porridge to be: Blandford McBlanderson III. A man the real NK wouldn't glance at, his nothingness is so obvious even peripherally.

And then to see him boss her around! GMAFB!

R42 then you now understand being a real,life Dom and their attraction. . The boys and girls who want to be subs will submit to you , offer up their body and soul, even if you are short, fat, ugly, and full of “nothingness’ and with a tiny dick.

So the guy in this doesn’t get naked? Does he show anything worthwhile?

you and your partner need a safe word before sitting down to watch this.

The $50 million milestone places "Babygirl" within A24's elite circle of highest-grossing films worldwide. The distributor's top performers now include "Everything Everywhere All at Once" ($143.4 million), "Civil War" ($127. 3 million), "Everything That Moves" ($92.1 million), "Hereditary" ($87.8 million), "Lady Bird" ($78.9 million), "Moonlight" ($65.1 million), "The Whale" ($57.6 million), "The Zone of Interest" ($52.6 million), "Heretic" ($52.2), and "Babygirl" ($50 million). The film's success has been further validated by critical acclaim, including Kidman's best actress win at the Venice Film Festival.

[Quote] Babygirl

Oh dear.

I don't get it, r47. The movie is "Babygirl," one word.

R48, R47 doesn't get it and that's her problem. Nor has she seen the film

I cannot watch anything she's been in lately. I tried to watch A Family Affair but turned it off after 15 minutes. I don't know what she's done to her face but it's jarring.

I totally agree AMPASS member...... maybe even more than jarring.

I just watched it. Her face throughout this movie is terrifying. She's got that bad white skin that ages like milk and it's like you can see the fillers underneath. Her eyeballs are protruding too. Just a mess.

I have zero respect for this woman. Biggest liar in Hollywood. The Mail posted an article the other day about how her elongated bat ears are the direct result of a facelift. Yet she denies everything and attributes her face to sunscreen and clean living 🙄

I agree about Nicole's face being distracting. Sometimes she looks like her old self but other times all I can think was What Is Wrong With Her Face? I had to laugh when the daughter tells her she looks like a dead fish.

Nicole has a reputation for turning down great projects or backing out at this last minute yet she chose to make ...... this. And Harris is just so unappealing. It's just a pointless piece of trash.

I'm watching it now on HBO and I cannot believe she would cheat on Antonio with Harris. What woman would do that in real life? Not to mention Antonio is a horn dog in this and Harris is this goofy, bland, white bro.

At least find someone who's hotter than her husband to make it believable. If that isn't bad enough, her face is disturbing. It looks like she got fillers and threads but neglected her neck. If you're going to work on your face, the neck has to match. Not sure if there's any surgery for the hands.

[quote]I'm watching it now on HBO and I cannot believe she would cheat on Antonio with Harris.

Are you headless? Have you seen Harris? Antonio looked like an old prune.

I only could make it through 20 minutes. So boring.

Antonio is still sexy. Harris is a wet noodle. They even dress him like a dufus.

[quote]Not sure if there's any surgery for the hands.

You can get fillers or maybe it's fat injected into them. I learned this after Kim Z. from RHOA had her stroke.

I watched it yesterday. It wasn’t uninteresting, but I’m glad I waited to see it at home. BUT. In scene where they meet in a hotel room for the first time…there is a shot of the two of them sitting on the bed, and oh my God, HER KNEES. It was really disturbing. All pink and white and weird bones sticking out everywhere.

R56 proving they know very little about the Dom-sub world . .