THE BIG YEAR (David Frankel). 100 minutes. Opens Friday (October 14). See listing. Rating: NNN
The Big Year tries to turn Mark Obmascik’s non-fiction narrative about competitive American birders trying to spot the most species in a calendar year into a comedy about cuddly eccentrics who bond over their shared passion. Sometimes it even works, despite director David Frankel’s insistence that the whole thing needs to play at the same frantic level as his cartoonish adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada.
A lot of Howard Franklin’s script feels wobbly and forced, its narrative stitched together by the voice-over of Jack Black’s underdog IT guy, and a handful of supporting characters whose only function is the delivery of additional exposition. Every now and then the gimmicks are put aside so the actors can treat their characters as actual human beings.
Black and Steve Martin, playing a retired corporate shark determined to devote himself to birding, build a lovely and genuine friendship, and each actor has scenes with another co-star (JoBeth Williams for Martin, Brian Dennehy and Dianne Wiest for Black) that add further depth to our understanding of his character.
But every scene with Owen Wilson’s vain contractor who’ll do almost anything to hold onto his record, feels like it belongs in a broader movie – one that’s much more comfortable laughing at the antics of these silly obsessives than actually trying to understand them.
