I had heard really mixed things about Babygirl. The good I had heard was all about the performance of Nicole Kidman, but I had also heard that the actual story and movie, in general, was not that great. I am going to be predictable here and say pretty much the same thing. I did not dislike this movie, but I would not say that I liked it all that much either.
How to Download Babygirl
Babygirl was released on December 25, 2024. You can expect to be able download or stream the film from Max in about two month from its theatrical release. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and check the current availability. If you want to see other movies with Nicole Kidman, check out in Batman Forever (1995), The Others (2001), Aquaman (2018), Bombshell (2019), or The Northman (2022).
The Movie Review
Babygirl is brought to us by A24 and for the most part, I like a great deal of what A24 does, especially their horror stuff. This is really a drama, I guess an erotic drama is the best way to describe it. The movie was written and directed by Halina Reijn and it does have some pretty good ideas. We watched it via video on demand as we missed its theatrical showing, but I am not sure seeing this on the big screen would have made any difference to the way I feel about it.
Nicole Kidman as Romy: A Powerful Yet Unlikable Character
Nicole Kidman plays the role of a woman called Romy. Romy is the CEO of a fancy robotics company and she is the ultimate career woman, but her home life, particularly, her sex life is not great at all. Her husband, Jacob who is played by Antonio Banderas and her have not exactly had great sex for a very, very long time and this had led to Romy becoming frustrated.
A Predictable Storyline with a Twist
Romy has a run in with a younger man called Samuel, played by Harris Dickinson. Samuel saves Romy from a dog and she finds out that he is an intern at her company and he picks her to be his mentor. On the surface, you know where the story of Babygirl is going a mile away, but it does have a twist.
This is a power fantasy kind of story where Romy and Samuel have an affair, however, it is Samuel who calls all the shots in this affair. For Romy, it is purely sexual and she has the most amazing sex of her life and she almost gets hooked on Samual and needs him to fulfill her needs. Samual gets more and more dominant, even showing up at her home!
Antonio Banderas as Jacob: A Disappointing Character
We have a whole thing with Romy and Jacob and while I like Antonio Banderas, I hated the character of Jacob, while I initially felt sorry for him, by the end of the movie I had zero respect for the guy. I just did not like any of the characters in this movie and even by the end of it, I had no idea who I was supposed to like or root for.
Is Babygirl Worth Watching?
I have read a lot of people talk about how great Romy is and how “powerful” this performance was. Yes, Nicole Kidman does give her all in this movie, but it just never clicked with me the same way that it appears to have for other people. I feel like it potentially could be better on a second viewing, but at the same time, I just do not have any desire at all to watch this again.
The easy comparison here is Fifty Shades of Grey. However, if you want something with a female/male affair where the woman is older, Jennifer Lopez’s The Boy Next Door was far more exciting than this one was. This was one of those movies that just fell flat for me, again, I did not dislike it, but there was not a great deal here that I liked either.
