Movie Review: Babygirl

 

Michael's Movie Grade: F

A smutty and trashy movie that tries to pretend it actually has something to say. 

In this erotic "thriller" a powerful woman CEO has sexual fantasies about being dominated by a man. When she meets a young intern who understands these fantasies, she puts her job and her married life in jeopardy to live them out. 

If this movie admitted that it is nothing but pure smut, perhaps a would be kinder to it (I still wouldn't like it mind you). However, this film advertises itself as a thriller and tries very hard to actually say something. It simply fails at both of these. We never really learn anything more about these characters than their positions and sexual kinks (about our main characters family we learn even less). We are supposed to feel a sense of danger about what could happen if people found out. Yet when the characters don't feel real to us, it is hard to get invested enough to care. When it comes to the social commentary this movie doesn't really say much of anything. Its messages amount to that women should have important roles in the workplace and that sometimes people have sexual kinks that are opposite to their outward personalities. Neither of these is exactly groundbreaking, and both have been explored better in other films. The feminist message especially feels very forced and incredibly basic. There is absolutely nothing here that will leave you with any food for thought. This film is made worse by dialogue that is incredibly clumsy and poorly written. Some of the sexual scenes between the two main characters also can come off as unintentionally funny. The story is very melodramatic and unoriginal. It also relies on way too many melodramatic coincidences that strain believability. 

This movie does benefit from a strong cast including Nicole Kidman, Antonio Banderas and Harris Dickinson. However, a good cast can only do so much with a script like this. 

There are few films I dislike more than a dumb movie that thinks it is very smart. Unfortunately, that is exactly what this is. 

-Michael J. Ruhland