Contraception

Time management tip: Use the 120 minutes to realphabetize your CD collection and avoid watching Birth starring Nicole Kidman. I'm a huge Kidman fan, but even I don't want to spend two hours seeing her look pensively at a blank-faced 10-year-old.

I had hoped it would be an intriguing psychological drama, but it was just a well-upholstered picture book about a desperate wife-to-be. I never bought that the boy could be the reincarnation of her dead husband, which is key to enjoying the movie. Where were the scenes where they reminisced? Even a little? The Anne Heche hiding-something-in-the-leaves scene at the start of the film felt like a studio head's brainstorm. Thanks for the spoon-feed, dudes.

Just like Nicole's character, the movie was pretty on the outside but never let us see inside. One thing I did enjoy in the film were the excellent male actors Danny Huston, Peter Stormare and Arliss Howard. What great, distinctive faces they've been blessed with and they each played their roles with understated elegance. OK, OK, so nice casting work and chilly art direction. Otherwise it left me cold.