‘Red Sparrow’ on HBO: Jennifer Lawrence Plays a Russian Spy in This “Sexpionage” Thriller

If you’re looking to see Jennifer Lawrence play a sexy spy, look no further than Red Sparrow, which is airing on HBO tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET. The 2018 film, which is based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Jason Matthews, stars Lawrence as a Russian woman who is coerced into becoming a “Sparrow,” or a Russian spy who sleeps with their target in order to obtain information.

That practice—which is officially known, unfortunately, as “sexpionage”— is a real thing according to Matthews, who is a former CIA agent and based his novel on his experiences. (He also served as a consultant on the film.) The story, however, is a fictional one. Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova, a famous ballerina struggling to take care of her ill mother, who gets up in an SVR plot. She is given a choice: join or die. After choosing to join, she heads off to Sparrow school, where she is trained in the art of seduction by the headmistress Matron (played by Charlotte Rampling). Dominika’s first target is Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton), an American CIA agent working in Moscow. When he discovers her ploy, she offers to work as a double agent for him. Unsurprisingly, this plan doesn’t go smoothly for either of them.

Directed by Francis Lawrence, who also directed the last three Hunger Games films (no relation to Jennifer Lawrence, despite the shared last name), and written by The Lone Ranger writer Justin Haythe, The Red Sparrow didn’t impress critics. The film has a 46 percent on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, with critics faulting the film for its clunky execution, even if Lawrence gave a good performance. It did slightly better at the box office, bringing in a respectable $151 million compared to a production budget of $69 million. Now that the film is streaming on HBO, I suspect it will fare even better. How can you say no to Jennifer Lawrence as a sexy spy?

Where to stream Red Sparrow