Review of The Big Year (2011) by Jeff B — 24 Oct 2011

A birdbrain of a laugh-getter with a cast that flies like birds-of-a-feather, this Year-ling isn't Big on laughs but it's still likeable and darn entertaining. The movie's synopsis (competitive birding ranks with basket-weaving and knitting on the cinematic excitement factor) is so mundanely kooky enough that, at first glance, it reads like a Christopher Guest mockumentary a la Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. It works so pleasingly well as a family-friendly narrative comedy, however, that it kinda sorta comes as a delightful surprise in a Cineplex teeming with boxing robots and high-kicking teens.

In this PG-rated comedy, three competitive bird watchers (Martin, Black, Owen Wilson) battle it out to spot the most rare species of birds in one fowl swoop. The cast also includes Brian Dennehy, Anjelica Huston, Rashida Jones, Rosamund Pike, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Anderson, Joel McHale, and Kevin Pollak.

Working from a decent if watered-down script by Howard Franklin (adapting from Bob Obmascik's book), David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) does a fine job of reining in two of film's most insufferably impossible acting sects, animals and kids-at-heart. The always wonderfully droll Steve Martin leads a winning cast that includes Black (dialing it down to great effect) and Wilson (who, after Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, has proven that he's one of the best actors working in comedies today). In an age where blue humor and gratuitous skin dominate a lot of new releases, The Big Year works (when it does work) because it's got a warm and fuzzy PG rating.

Bottom line: Good tweets.