Is it possible to take a non-fiction book about bird watching and adapt it into a successful engrossing film? What if you add in David Frankel as the Director and throw in Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson as the three leads? Fill the supporting cast with actors of high esteem such as Angelica Huston, Brian Dennehy, and Dianne Wiest to add some award winning pedigree and film it on location in some of the most beautiful parts of America to make it visually pleasing. Shake, stir, and hope for the best! The result....a pleasant harmless movie that was a numbing failure at the Box Office but somehow succeeds while sitting in your living room. There is something incredibly sweet about this tale of three men with a deep passion for bird watching that find themselves in a yearly competition called 'The Big Year'. It's like looking through a window to a world that I didn't know existed. I must admit that I was fascinated by the idea of the movie more than the movie itself. The screenplay does what it can to give the illusion of an actual plot but in the end it simply serves as an outlet for beautiful scenery and serviceable performances. And yet, again, I was strangely fascinated by the whole endeavor. Jack Black is charming and gives the best performance among the three central leads. Steve Martin seems straitjacketed and bored. Owen Wilson annoys me in everything and this is no exception. So, in the end, I give THE BIG YEAR an unenthusiastic recommendation. It's real pretty, very sweet, but utterly forgettable.
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