Forget the guys and watch the birds
The Big
Year is a big, bad, boring movie. Boring not because it's about birding, but
because the script is lame and labored. Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen
Wilson have virtually nothing to work with and are reduced to looking silly. The
only strength in this story is the birds who are beautiful and not the least bit
silly.
America is
home to hundreds of subcultures fueled by the personal passions of their
participants. Think of antique dealers who move from show to show looking at
treasures through their loupes; of model builders, of ballroom dancing contests,
of collectors of documents, signatures, flags, books, and watches. Now and then
a good movie is made about such a sub-culture. One is Spellbound, the
story of the national spelling bee. Another is Wordplay, the story of
Will Shortz' annual crossword puzzle jamboree. These two films went to the
hearts of those matters and gave audiences an appreciation of the passion that
drives people to gather and study the things they love. Unfortunately, The
Big Year does no such thing.
The premise
here: three men are pursuing the title of Best Birder in the World - the person
who spots the most birds in a calendar year. We learn this is done on the honor
system, that indentifying a bird by its song counts as much as spotting him; and
we learn that pursuing the title means travel, expense, and a lot of hardship.
So far, O.K.
Stu (Steve
Martin) is CEO of a massive conglomerate. We know this because his name is in
huge letters on the building and his staff pursues him continually by cell phone
regarding a pending deal. Brad (Jack Black) has maxed out his mother's credit
card to undertake the big year and sees the title as validation of his
self-worth which at the moment he feels is zero. Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson) is
the present title holder with 732 sightings; he's going for gold again because
he can't bear to think of losing his identity to a replacement.
Pretending to
each other that they are just birding casually, they spend a great deal of film
footage flying to distant places under harsh conditions to track the birds who
also fly full time but much more gracefully. Jack Black is the clumsy goofball,
Owen Wilson the champ with a nasty streak, and Steve Martin the honorable CEO
who misses his wife (JoBeth Williams in a nice performance as a perceptive
spouse). Credit Brian Dennehey with a good Hallmark moment. The plot suggests
that each birder is sorting out his life's priorities by taking a year to follow
birds, but that may be too big a thought for this movie.
The real
problem here is that a fabled outdoor passion is presented as just another form
of male competition. So forget the guys and look for the Rustic Bunting, the
Arctic Loon, and the Pin Tailed Snipe.
Copyright (c) Illusion