The Big Year

Frankel's movie is as refreshing as a walk in the woods and surprising as a chance encounter with the best that nature can offer.

The Big Year is better when it is examining the obsession of the birders, and Martin, Black and Wilson are enjoyable in toned-down mode.

Inspired by Mark Obmascik's book, the tale focuses on universal themes of pursuing a dream and tapping into an adventurous spirit.

This one could have flown over the cuckoo's nest, or smacked into a glass pane, but instead lands in the middle of the road where quirky and popular meet.

The result is an offence-free, mild entertainment in which everyone from cast to scriptwriter seems to be winging it.

Director David Frankel's picture delivers sweet and (more rarely) amusing moments, but this odd duck never completely gets off the ground.

Why does The Big Year's trailer intentionally hide what the film is really about? Here's why: Because bird-watching - or birding, as practitioners prefer to call it - makes for a stupefyingly boring movie.

This movie is soooooo underrated!!! One of the best movie surprises I've bumped into in I don't even know how long. I picked up the 5$ special at Walmart thinking oh gee some slapstick comedy to kick it on a Friday evening. I was sooooo surprised. This is brilliant. It's beyond brilliant. I'll bet half of the reviewers didn't even "get" what they were doing with this movie, because they don't particularly "get" into nature. --Take another look; there's more than just nature going on if you watch carefully! Delicate satirical reference and parallels just out of reach of the obvious and beautifully executed. The bargain basement DVD comes with a great "extended cut". I just regret there isn't some "behind the scenes" takes on it as well. The scenery is gorgeous, the clever expose unveils soooo much more than the simple plot. Now that the movie is showing up in the Wal-Mart bins, this movie deserves resurrection. As another reviewer noted, there's no blood and guts, steamy sex, guns, money heists, violence, or language. What's left? I'll tell you: something genuinely new and creative. Give this movie another look! Its one of the most intelligent works out of Hollywood in a long long time. The acting could not be better by three of the best of the best at the top of their own game! Of course these guys slipped in some double tongue humor for the quick minded. Pay attention! Many stars and all thumbs up on this one!

Martin's a great actor, sure wish I could have seen it. But kept thinking about how many times I would have gone bankrupt (about 500 - 600) and how many jobs I would have lost (about 1200-1500) during just ONE year.

One thing 'The Big Year' is, is not humorous. Nor is it particularly clever or thoughtful. What exactly is this movie about then? Despite it's unoriginality the story itself is fresh. There haven't been too many films made about birdwatching let alone 'comedic' ones. The frequently changing setting matters not as the locations are simply stunning and makes some of David Attenborough's documentaries seem dull in comparison. You won't churn out any laughter with TBY but as long as you realise it's simply a quaint, little feature then you simply *might* enjoy it.

Would anyone ever watch it apart from the director and the producer and their closest relatives that stand by them through the thick and thin if it was not for Black, Martin & Wilson playing?

I an truly amazed that this pantload of a movie got a single score above a zero. The only way that's possible is if those reviewers happen to be one of these weird "birding" nerds. To be perfectly honest, we felt completely ripped off by the false advertising of this piece of crap. In the previews, in every single interview with the cast, there wasn't one mention of a bird or "birding" in any **** was made to look like something similar to The Bucket List, with the cast doing a bunch of crazy things over a year. NOT WATCHING FREAKING BIRDS! Maybe not the worst movie ever, but surely in the top 10, and definitely the most dissapointing I have ever seen. I can't for the life of me figure out why any of those guys would ever even consider doing this movie. Anyone who rated this above a zero has been eating way too many **** sandwiches...