Month: November 2011

Another message movie for our times. This movie starts out with some wonderful character development, especially with the supporting cast of Tea Leoni. We don’t really see as much of her as we should, but then, we don’t see a lot of people in the disjointed plot where the set-up is laid out in the first thirty or forty minutes.
This homage to “the little guy” who was kicked around by Wall Street is held together by Ben Stiller. He is the glue around which Eddie Murphy and Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda and others spin an essentially funny story about the desperation born of our failure to see the system of greed and corporation represented by “The Man” (in this case: Alan Alda as Bernie Madoff) for what he really is.
This is a message movie wrapped in a comedy. The message is fleeting but the comedy is good enough to hold us in our seats to see how it all turns out. That is enough to ask for in this thin movie season…

The Big Year:

A pretty good film. Owen Wilson was surprisingly effective in the role of an experienced birder (they don’t like to be called bird-watchers) who is being challenged by two other men to sight & record the most birds in one calendar year.

Steve Martin is the elder of the trio, and his newer, gentler form of laid back comedy gives his performance a kind of sweetness that is sometimes lacking in his roles. Jack Black is also able to shine as the younger man who is seemingly lost and floundering at times.

The narration provided by Black’s character is a bit confusing as it trails off at some point. But it doesn’t overly detract and the film has a beautiful photographic feel in the ebbs and flows of the progress of the three birders as we trail them through the scenic vistas of the Americas to watch the rarest species in their native habitats.

Two things stand out. The first is that this source of material is, if nothing else, refreshingly different. We see some plots that begin with science fiction PLUS werewolves PLUS a car chase PLUS a vampire….you get the drift. You don’t see any films dealing with serious Audubon enthusiasts and that, in itself is refreshing.
The second point being that Comedy is hard, yet this is a light-hearted attempt at laughs and the reviews don’t give the material credit. It’s a sweet film at times with a message of redemption in seeking what we believe to be the most important things in life. And that happens to be a good message for our times.