Helena IR movie review: 'Babygirl' an erotic thriller, sans the eros, sans the thrills

At the Cinemark

Grade: C

Nothing about “Babygirl” seemed appealing to me: The marketing told us that a career woman at the top of her field will have a torrid affair with a handsome young intern.

Sounds sleazy, right? Nicholas sparks will fly?

The titillating title, “Babygirl,” suggested the studio was embracing that bodice-ripping identity.

I really didn’t want to see a film like that, but two things made me curious:

First, “Babygirl” features a woman behind the lens: It’s helmed by Halina Reijn, a Dutch director whose first film, “Instinct,” was the Netherlands entry into the 2019 Oscar competition for Best Foreign Film.

And, the clincher: babygirl herself is Nicole Kidman.

Kidman is an unapologetic feminist who advocates for women’s rights on a national and global level. She’s courageous in her choice of roles ranging from Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” to “Moulin Rouge” to her Oscar-winning work in “The Hours.”

Inevitably, the Kidman characters in these scripts are strong, able to navigate a patriarchal world with finesse and class.

OK, I thought, maybe “Babygirl” is a misdirection play, drawing us in with suggestive marketing, but delivering a subversive message about women in power in this millennium.

And I think that’s the film “Babygirl” wanted to be: a meditation on power in the workplace, with a gender-flipping premise – that an older woman will seduce a younger man.

Only in the final half hour does the script harvest some of that political promise, when Kidman’s character regains her balance and reasserts her power.

Too little, too late.

First, I never, for a second, believed that CEO Nicole could melt into an erotic puddle over this intern. She’s too smart for that, and he’s too shallow.

And I also dismissed the idea that she would cheat on Antonio Banderas, her loving husband. Yes, people do dumb things when they fall in lust, but the script gives us no convincing reason why she’s attracted to Samuel, except that he might be a Vogue model.

And goodbye Antonio? Not happening.

Samuel is mostly creepy. It’s insulting to think Nicole would lose it over him.

And when smooth-talking Sam coaxed Nicole into submissive role-playing games I just shook my head. I thought I had wandered into “Fifty More Lamp Shades of Grey.”

Mild spoiler: Making CEO Nicole act like a dog was both absurd and silly. I lost hope and checked my watch when Samuel poured milk onto a saucer. Slurp dog? Will she rap?

In the end, “Babygirl” was just as disappointing as I feared.

Not because it was a cheap romance novel, but because the script wasn’t smart enough or deep enough to deliver on its promise to explore power dynamics in workplace romance.

Sidenote: This “erotic thriller” is neither erotic nor thrilling. Flesh is minimized and there’s only very brief tension when the vice tightens around her not-so-secret “secret” affair.

Strong bright people can be seduced into doing dumb things. We all know that. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

But can we please make the bait truly tempting? And respect the intelligence of this bright CEO? Maybe George Clooney winks at her. Or Kate McKinnon makes her laugh?

Put something more delicious on the hook than a ripped hunk with high school pickup lines.