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Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Michael Ledo My sister and her husband are avid birders. I know a little about the topic. They are ranked in the top 10 within their home state, for their big year.Bostick (Owen Wilson) is in serious competition. The movie is correct in that birders are on an honor system, although there are doubters which is why birders quickly become decent amateur photographers. Just about every year is a "Big Year" for birders as they always keep track of what birds they have seen as well as when and where. Most don't have the time or resources to cross the country several times a year, so they compete within their state.The film shows some aspects of birders such as how life interferes with birding. Or how a birder would rather be in Brownsville, Texas at a dump site than in Paris, France. I have discovered that Birders are also acutely aware of things such as global warming as southern birds move north into new areas. They also know the points of illegal crossings as they visit the southern border at odd hours.The movie has 3 diverse quirky characters competing nation wide to be the best birder. Jack Black and Steve Martin are likeable characters while Owen Wilson is the "bad guy." I had several laugh out loud moments during this feature. Birding is best done as a couples hobby.Good comedy. Good script.

parrisjim 1st bird watching is an old term and most birders dislike the term because birding requires hard work.The good birders are hikers up to 5 hrs a day and to photograph them requires years of skill building.Many hunters who switched to birder will tell you photographing them is more skillful then hunting...Birderng should be bird hunting you just don't kill it when you find it.This move was clearly written by birders or know birders because everything avid birders experience is in the movie.They miss a few points like bug bites(it was mentioned) and birders do enjoy the scenery and often relax and take it in...This is a funny movie but you really have yo know birders to fully enjoy it if you do the movie is hysterical...

samisspink I should start that this may contain a few minor spoilers...Fantastic! Enjoyed this movie much more than I thought I would, given it was about bird watching. I watched because I absolutely love Steve Martin, he could make any movie likable. In fact, between the entire cast- Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin- they could make even a rubbish story line enjoyable to watch. Only it isn't a rubbish story line, far from it. Each character has their own personal background and story line to move forward with. I just love that it is based on a true story, or at least people who are real, with "a few facts changed," or so it states at the beginning of the movie.They really kept the bird theme going in this movie, between Harris's ring tone on his phone and some of the songs used in between. This movie made bird watching look quite inspiring and really gave a taste of what these bird watchers endure and how they feel doing it. I had no idea it was like that. Amazing! I love how they highlighted the different species of birds. I loved the owl scene with Harris and his dad in the snow.The end is absolute perfection. I nearly cried it was so meaningful. Not often that happens for me, if ever! I love that no one died (for a change!) and even Bostwick had a closure that he deserved, but still showed a likable character in the end.Brilliant performances from each of the actors, but I wouldn't expect anything less from this cast! Will definitely be watching this again.

TheLittleSongbird Surprisingly because, although the cast is a very talented one, the bird-watching subject is interesting and comedy dramas are enjoyable when done right, the trailer wasn't particularly very promising and there were the worries of whether anything interesting would be made regarding bird-watching, whether the cast would be well-used and the dangers of the comedy forgetting to be funny or the drama to be too sentimental or both.The Big Year is not a perfect film, with the odd predictable part, some pedestrian pacing and for personal tastes some of the historical montage narration was a little irritating and not always necessary despite it being well-delivered by John Cleese. However it is much better than the trailer suggests, in all honesty trailers rarely do their films justice with the trailer being misleading or bad and the film actually being good(the case with The Big Year). The bird-watching subject is dealt with thoughtfully and mostly engagingly if imperfectly, as well as handled with a gentle tone and uplifting at the end. And the script and story do just fine in the comedy and drama. Sure the comedy is not laugh-out-funny which will disappoint people, but it's gentle, droll humour instead of the crude, broad humour that it could easily have been, and the approach worked and would have suited the film and story much better in the first place. The drama hits the right note too, there's always a danger in comedy dramas or dramas for the dramatic parts to be over-sentimental, but in my opinion The Big Year did not fall into that trap with it being very poignant and hopeful.It's very beautifully filmed too with strikingly picturesque locations, it is nicely directed and the music from Theodore Shapiro does a good job matching the film's gentle tone. The characters are sympathetically drawn and played, there's a danger always in comedy drama to have a character that's annoying or window-dressing and none of those are present in The Big Year. The acting is strong and no time is wasted on making full use of what makes the actors talented. Steve Martin's comic timing is as smooth as silk, Jack Black while broad at times is thankfully more subtle than usual and Owen Wilson while not quite as memorable is amiably likable. Luckily they are treated equally by the writers instead of one outweighing the others They are well-supported by an as ever elegant Anjelica Huston, an as always stellar Dianne Wiest and a radiant and sympathetic Rosamund Pike. To me The Big Year was not lacking in chemistry or tension.Overall, The Big Year is not perfect but it's a surprisingly good and well done film, that is far better than it was advertised to be. 7/10 Bethany Cox