The Big Year

If you had approached me yesterday and merely suggested that one of the most entertaining movies I would watch so far this year would star Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson as rival bird watchers, I would've punched you in the face for even proffering such a ridiculous scenario.  However, I would then have to pick you up, dust you off, and apologize because that ludicrous sounding suggestion just happens to be the truth.

The Big Year, directed by David Frankel, is the story of three bird enthusiasts, all in pursuit of a big year.  A big year is a competition amongst fans of the avian to spot as many species as you can in one calendar year in a particular geographic area.  If Wikipedia is to be trusted the real life record for the United States (excluding Hawaii) is 745 species, held by a Sandy Komito.  Our fictitious birding trio is played by the aforementioned Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson.

Owen Wilson is the brash and cocky record holder Kenny Bostick.  Kenny, a building contractor, is gunning--or binnocularing--for his second big year.  Staying true to his contractor's scruples, he will do darn near anything to get it, including leaving his expecting to soon be expecting wife mostly on her own to get the house ready for the baby for the year.

Steve Martin is successful CEO Stu Preissler, who has done most of his birding from high atop the New York skyrise that bears his name on the facade.  After one false start on retirement already, Stu is finally ready to get out of the office and give a big year a try but is incessantly pestered by his former staff to come back to the boardroom.

And then there is Jack Black.  Though, it's a lesser Jack Black than we're used to.  Or, maybe understated is a better word.  He's still Jack Black, just....quieter.  In a good way.  He plays the semi-loser Brad Harris.  Stuck in a job he doesn't like, divorced, and still living with his parents, Brad sees the big year as a chance to do something with his life.  His father, grumpily played by Brian Dennehy, thinks its all a big waste of time.

And so the three set out, seperately, to spot or hear as many fowl as possible.  Their paths inevitably cross and the competition intensifies as each suspects the other of doing a big year.  Apparently you try to keep that hush hush so as not to tip off other birders and further stoke the competitive fires of your rivals.

It's mostly a light hearted movie, though there are some moments of pathos when each of our protagonists weighs the costs of pursuing their passion.  Whether its Kenny disappointing his wife and putting his marriage on the line, or Stu's wrestling with letting go of the corporate life and the company he built from nothing, or Brad dealing with a disapproving father who doesn't understand his son's passion and has no real desire to do so.  All three are met with difficult choices along the way and must ask themselves what they are willing to sacrifice for what really amounts to just a hobby.  But as we all know, first hand or other wise, hobbies often become passions and those passions become dreams and dreams are what help to make our lives interesting and worth living.

But it's not all hard choices and pathos.  It's mostly funny.  It's not necessarily lolemutpot funny (for the uninformed that's laughing-out-loud-every-minute-until-the-point-of-tears), but there are several audible laughter moments and an overall vibe of fun.  Ok, I'm about to channel the elderly for a second, so bear with me, but so many comedies these days rely on over the top stunts and fart jokes for cheap laughs, that it was refreshing to watch a comedy that didn't have to go there.  That should tell you just how restrained Jack Black, one of the best physical comics out there, actually was.  I counted only one prat fall.  And it was funny.  Ok, I feel the Spirit of the Elderly leaving my body.  Wait...WHY CAN'T I GET TO THE INTERWEB ON MY CORDLESS PHONE DAGNABIT!  Ok, now it's gone.

Lastly, since our characters travel back and forth across this great nation in search of their birds we get to check out some pretty great parts of America's natural beauty.  Some lesser known, like Attu Island and the Ruby Mountains.  Some pretty cool bird footage too, though actually I wish there had been a little more.  It might have helped us non-birders appreciate what the big deal is a little better.

It's not a perfect movie, and dances dangerously close to sappy on a couple of occasions, but it was surprisingly enjoyable.  You know, because its about bird watching.  Which is probably why its already all but been forgotten about, and that's for the birds.