The Big Year was a Mr. Mouse request, as I am trying to be more accommodating with the Blockbuster.com queue. (If only he would decide he likes science fiction and horror!) After we watched it, pretty much both our reactions boiled down to: "Meh."
It's a slim premise: Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson are three
nutso birdwatchers birders who are in competition to see the most North American species in one year. OW is the reigning record holder and is completely obsessive, abandoning his pretty, young (third?) wife just when she's about to start fertility treatments. JB is a divorced schlub with a nothing job and a strained relationship with his dad. SM is a highly successful businessman who put his family aside first for his company and now for birds. They travel all over the continent, become friends and learn life lessons.
The thing is, Martin, Black and Wilson are three very funny guys in a not very funny movie. Maybe they were supposed to be playing it straight, in which case Black's slapstick pratfalls were entirely out of place. I don't know - it just didn't do much for me. I did enjoy the various locations that were filmed but jeesh, we didn't even see that many birds.
The Big Year will never be one of those movies I end up watching just because I came across it on cable whilst flipping channels.
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