The movie roams through its numerous picturesque locations with a pleasant enough grace, while Frankel adds just enough idiosyncratic musical and visual quirks to keep things interesting.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 27, 2012

It's theoretically possible for laughs to be gouged out of this scenario, but you won't find them here: every move, every joke, every emotion is heaved lumberingly into place.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 1, 2011

The Big Year is as glossy and inert as Martin's face, which these days seems to require more foundation than the Burj Khalifa.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 1, 2011

In some alternate universe, a much better version of The Big Year exists, one that embraces the essential, insular weirdness and romantic fanaticism of the birding community it chronicles.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 21, 2011

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

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 21, 2011

Failing even to attempt genuinely humorous gags or scenarios, and incapable of conveying the thrill of its obsessive pastime or the majesty of the animals themselves, this feel-good male weepie remains comedically and dramatically grounded.

| Oct 17, 2011

Unfortunately, these comic geniuses are kept caged by the wan script and direction. The best gag in the film is the opening title card; the best joke, a throwaway by a day player.

| Oct 17, 2011

A very mild movie, but in the nicest sense of the word.

| Original Score: B | Oct 17, 2011

What a waste that three of our finest actors are utilized as glorified bit players in such an instantly disposable comedy.

| Original Score: C+ | Oct 14, 2011

The Big Year has charms: Not a jawdropping flock of them, but a number of sweet insights and warm laughs just the same.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 14, 2011

People watching birds is a nice thing. People watching a movie about people watching birds is sort of a snore.

| Original Score: C- | Oct 14, 2011

Its charms are as small as its singing feathered friends, but they're real enough, and gentle enough, to lift it and give it flight.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 14, 2011

...the film itself qualifies as a rara avis: a benign, good-hearted movie about three disparate characters' search for happiness. The fact that it's rated PG, and yet is intended for adult audiences, should tell you something about the movie's nature.

Full Review | Oct 14, 2011

It's nice to watch a comedy that doesn't screech or foul the nest, but "The Big Year" is no big deal.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 14, 2011

"The Big Year" has heart and sweetness to spare - but as any birder will tell you, focus and energy count, too.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 14, 2011

This movie stubbornly refuses to take flight, or generate more than a few chuckles.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 14, 2011

A genial comedy with more power under its wings than it seems. 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.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 14, 2011

The scenery and the birds (at least the less obviously CGI birds) are lovely. But the personal lives of the three men are predictable and not very compelling.

| Original Score: C | Oct 13, 2011

This gently charming comedy about a trio of birders is based on a winning premise, likable performances and stunning natural vistas.

| Oct 13, 2011

There is some harmless pleasure to be found when feathers aren't ruffled, when the fowl is not foul.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 13, 2011