Review of The Big Year (2011) by Doug G — 03 Oct 2012

As a longtime birder, I can't possibly be objective about this film. The characterization in the story of birding fanatics and their antics is fairly accurate, and the birding-related gritty details are truthful enough enough to avoid major tut-tutting by ornithological purists. The essential feaures of the real-life Big Year phenomenon are all there: the frantic rushing about to view vagrants, the obligatory sojourn to Attu, the wonderment of passerine migratory "fallout," the intense, sometimes backbiting competition. Only birders would know that the "Annie Auklet" character played by Angelica Huston is based on the real life Debra Shearwater, organizer of countless pelagic birding excursions on the west coast.

Even the choice of main characters reflects actual birding archetypes: the swaggering Alpha birder (Owen Wilson), the alienated, obsessive young fanatic (Jack Black), and the wealthy, globe-trotting lister (Steve Martin). Overall: the casting is terrific, some of the sequences are marvelous, and the producers did their best to incorporate human drama into the story. I can see, however, that for people not as committed to the subject matter as I am, the film might seem uneven.

But hey, a movie about BIRDING! You can make up your own mind, but I gotta love it.