The Big Year

Based on a non-fiction book by Mark Obmascik, The Big Year follows three men (Jack Black’s Brad Harris, Owen Wilson’s Kenny Bostick, and Steve Martin’s Stu Preissler) as they attempt to win a contest based on which competitor spots the most birds in a single year – with the rivalry between the disparate figures inevitably taking several unexpected turns. In its early stages, The Big Year comes off as an entertainingly brisk comedy that benefits substantially from the personable work of its stars – as the affable performances effectively perpetuate the film’s feel-good atmosphere and, at the outset, ensure that the thin premise isn’t as problematic as one might’ve feared. It’s only as the movie charges into its increasingly stagnant midsection that the viewer’s interest begins to flag, as filmmaker David Frankel is increasingly unable to transform birdwatching into a wholeheartedly engrossing endeavor. The director, working from Howard Franklin’s screenplay, attempts to compensate by suffusing the proceedings with a number of fairly pointless subplots (eg Bostick’s marital difficulties, Harris’ confrontational relationship with his father, etc, etc), which only exacerbates the progressively uneven atmosphere and does, in the end, confirm the movie’s place as a slick yet empty piece of work.

** out of ****