The Big Year

Two words guaranteed to get the most jaded cinemagoer’s pulse pounding: competitive birdwatching. To be fair, if ‘The Big Year’ hadn’t been saddled with a bland script, TV-movie direction and three coasting comedy superstars, we might have been able to overlook the subject matter. Jack Black turns on the goofball everyman charm – which is to say, he grins a lot – as Brad, the office dogsbody who dreams of completing a ‘big year’: spotting more wild birds in North America than any other twitcher. His competition comes in the form of preening, loudmouth birding superstar Kenny (Owen Wilson – who else?) and doting millionaire family man Stu (Steve Martin – ditto). With that kind of star wattage, ‘The Big Year’ is difficult to dislike. It’ll also prove very hard to remember.