RBR: The Big Year

If you heard there was a movie coming out about bird watching, you'd probably think "boring". But if I told you that same movie featured Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson, you may begin to change your tune. I know I sure did. Which is why I decided to check out The Big Year It turns out though that even with those three tremendously talented, funny people this movie still turned out to be a bore. I was astounded that a film that featured not only those three stars, but a whole host of other funny people including Kevin Pollack, Rashida Jones, Joel McHale, Jim Parsons, Angelica Huston, Steven Weber, Dianne Wiest, Rosamund Pike, Brian Dennehy, Anthony Anderson, and John Cleese failed to yield even a chuckle out of me. The movie plays the subject matter straight and practically holds the 'sport' in reverence. I've got no problem with that in theory, but if that's the plan, there's no sense in having this cast do that kind of movie. As we watch the three leads cavort around the U.S. in an attempt to spot as many bird species as possible, we're suppose to see them make personal growth. Personally, I did not find any of their story arcs all that compelling and I felt using the birdwatching as some sort of metaphor for what they were going through at home to be strained. However, since the film feels so compelled to use it as an analogy for the characters' troubles, let me also use it to sum up my feelings for this dull movie - watching The Big Year is like spending all day looking in the sky for a rare falcon and all you ever spot is pigeons. Rating: ** 1/2