THE BIG YEAR (2011) : bird watchers

One of the wives in the slight but affable comedy The Big Year watches as her husband Stu (Steve Martin) vies with his adult son for bragging rights in a skiing contest. "They're men, dear," Edith (JoBeth Williams) says to her daughter-in-law, sounding fond, resigned and also slightly patronizing. Stu is about to spend a year trying, along with two other men (Owen Wilson and Jack Black), for the unusual honor of being named the world's best birder. "If they ever stop competing, they
die."

Yuck. If The Big Year only offered proof of this sweeping generalization it might be a chest-thumping extravaganza that does no favors to men or the women who gaze fondly upon them. But director David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada and Marley & Me) goes for an underlying message about how the joy of experience — spending a calendar year racking up sightings of hundreds of distinct bird species — trumps the thrill of trouncing others. That sounds awfully greeting-card-ish, but The Big Year works as a light, candy-bright comedy in the City Slickers vein: a live-action movie with grownups and without talking animals, suitable for the whole family.

A Big Year competition does takes place annually in North America. It's casual in the sense that no one enters; they just start, and all results are reported on the honor system. Mark Obmasik chronicled the 1998 competition in his 2004 book of the same name, which provided the loose basis for Howard Franklin's screenplay. In that banner year, three men each spotted over 700 species. If the movie is true to life, this almost quaint endeavor to glimpse and identify the small, winged gems of nature can also be a selfish enterprise, involving considerable sacrifice to personal and professional relationships, not to mention incurring vast travel expenses entailed in ditching one's regular life to dash off to remote locations at a moment's notice.

Two of the competitors can well afford it. Reigning champion Kenny Bostick's (Wilson) only responsibility seems to be to get his pretty, fertility-challenged wife Jess (Rosamund Pike) pregnant, an obligation most would enjoy. But Kenny is more interested in birding. "It's my calling," he tells Jess. "Like Gandhi?" she says, arching an eyebrow. Business tycoon Stu Preissler could retire in style, if his needy employees (Joel McHale and Kevin Pollak) and personal work ethic would allow it; Stu's hopes his Big Year will help him transition into retirement. (Read about the darker side of Owen Wilson.)

The underdog is Brad Harris (Jack Black), a computer whiz who moved in with his crabby father (Brian Dennehy) and supportive mother (Dianne Wiest) after getting ditched by his wife for his bird obsession. He maxes out six credit cards in pursuit of the title, and has to continue to work full time, but is blessed with an extraordinarily sharp ear for bird sounds.

Black fans may hardly recognize him, because for once he plays a person instead of a walking comedy mask atop a Buddha belly. For the first time in years I didn't want to run in the opposite direction from his smirk. I even rooted for him to get the lady birder (Rashida Jones) they keep bumping into, even though she's a little too good to be true (she's working on a gentler ambition, building up her life list of birds spotted, not a Big Year). With three male leads who tend to be big forces of nature themselves, the movie could have been a bravado fest, but instead they all play it small. Martin has seemed like he's faking something ever since his moved into the post Father of the Bride phase of his career, but he seems more comfortable playing fatherly opposite Black than usual.

It's not often that a mainstream movie focuses on an eccentric subset of the population without turning them into grotesques or cute little goofballs. These birders have technology on their side — a blogger named Ichabod Crane (Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons) keeps everyone up to date on the race and they get daily phone updates about obscure sightings. But there is still a quixotic aspect to searching for something so elusive in vast and varied landscapes, and the movie captures something of that. Frankel shows the birders fanning out across the rugged terrain of the avian paradise of Attu Island (with the Yukon subbing for the Aleutian Island) on bicycles, and as they visually bag their prey, the names of various species pop up all over the landscape, scrawled on the screen. It's like an Easter egg hunt for adults, joyous and sweet. The Big Year competition may be fierce, but the movie is as soft as a bunny.

Cynthia Holloway - IMDb

www.imdb.com/name/nm2040667/

Cynthia Holloway, Actress: The Big Bang Theory. Cynthia Holloway is an actress, known for The Big Bang Theory (2007), The Decade (1999) and Las Vegas (2003).

Lindsey Holloway - IMDb

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Lindsey Holloway, Actress: The Other Side of Paradise. Lindsey Holloway is an actress, known for The Other Side of Paradise (2009) and Rising from the Rails: The Story of the Pullman Porter (2006).

Ann Holloway - Biography - IMDb

www.imdb.com/name/nm0391284/bio

The daughter of an entertainer, Ann was educated at Covents in Chelsea and Hertford and Mater Dei College in Welwyn Garden City. She started her career as a dancer before switching to acting. As anactress, she appeared on the London stage in plays such as "Spring Awakening" and "The Knack". Ann married the actor ...

Victoria Holloway - IMDb

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Victoria Holloway, Actress: Case of the Full Moon Murders. Victoria Holloway is an actress and costume designer.

Ava Holloway - IMDb

www.imdb.com/name/nm8473371/

Ava Holloway, Actress: For My Man. Ava Holloway is an actress, known for For My Man (2015).

Julian Holloway - IMDb

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Loncat ke Actor - Actor (134 credits). 2011-2017 Regular Show (TV Series) Death / Duck Man / Grandpa Hanatronic / ... - A Regular Epic Final Battle (2017) ... Death (voice). - Cheer Up Pops (2017) ... Death (voice). - Eileen Flat Screen (2014) ... Grandpa Hanatronic / Old Man #2 (voice). - The End of Muscle Man ...

Prudence Holloway - IMDb

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Prudence Holloway, Actress: Thirty. Prudence Holloway is an actress, known for Thirty (2017) and After Nightfall (2018).

Rebecca Holloway - IMDb

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Rebecca Holloway, Actress: The Year Without a Santa Claus. Rebecca was born January 3, 1973 to Henry and June Hernandez in West Monroe, Lousiana on a cold snowy night. When 3 years old Rebecca's parents divorced forcing her mother to move back to Delhi, Louisiana (15 minutes east of Start, La, home of Tim ...

Susan Holloway - IMDb

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Susan Holloway, Actress: Point Blank. Susan Holloway is known for her work on Point Blank (1967), Angels from Hell (1968) and When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965).

Valerie Holloway - IMDb

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Valerie Holloway, Actress: A Horseman Riding By. Valerie Holloway is an actress, known for A Horseman Riding By (1978), The Girl in the Picture (1985) and Cribb (1980).

Ashly Holloway - IMDb

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Loncat ke Actress - Actress (13 credits). 2001-2017 Curb Your Enthusiasm (TV Series) Sammi Greene. - Fatwa! (2017) ... Sammi Greene. - Thank You for Your Service (2017) ... Sammi Greene. - Vow of Silence (2011) ... Sammi Greene. - Palestinian Chicken (2011) ... Sammi Greene. - Denise Handicapped (2009) .

Laura Holloway - IMDb

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Laura Holloway, Actress: Enlisted. Laura grew up in a small town outside of New York City and knew the first time she saw Annie that she wanted to be in movies. Her studies in acting and music were intensified when she attended a professional conservatory program at the Atlantic Acting School in New York where she ...

Jennifer Holloway - IMDb

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Loncat ke Actress - Actress (35 credits). Soiled Doves (TV Series) (pre-production) Constance. - Pilot ... Constance. 2018 Girls! Girls! Girls! Or: As Tammy Withers Away (Short) Elize. 2017 Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV Series) Bella. - Your Honor (2017) ... Bella. 2016-2017 Valley Drive (TV Series) Victoria. - S CarGO (2017) ...

Anthea Holloway - IMDb

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Anthea Holloway, Actress: My Wife Jacqueline. Anthea Holloway was born on March 19, 1919 in Brentford, Middlesex, England as Anthea Mary Holloway. She was an actress, known for My Wife Jacqueline (1952), The Battle of St. George Without (1969) and Corridors of Blood (1958). She was married to Hamish ...

Nancy Holloway - IMDb

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Loncat ke Actress - Actress (16 credits). 2002 L'amertume de la chanteuse devant l'utilité des fils barbelés (Short) Nancy Holloway. 1978 Cinéma 16 (TV Series) La chanteuse de cabaret. - La femme rompue (1978) ... La chanteuse de cabaret. 1973 Le neveu d'Amérique (TV Series) Marpessa. 1971 Rum Runners

Josh Holloway - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Holloway

Josh Lee Holloway (born July 20, 1969) is an American actor, model and producer, best known for his roles as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost and as Gabriel Vaughn in the CBS drama Intelligence. He currently stars as Will Bowman on the science fiction drama Colony.

‎Early life · ‎Career · ‎Personal life · ‎Filmography

Carol Holloway - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Holloway

Carol Holloway (April 30, 1892 – January 3, 1979) was an American actress of the silent film era. She appeared in 117 films between 1914 and 1941. She was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts and died in California. Partial filmography[edit]. A Gentleman of Leisure (1915); The Fighting Trail (1917); 'If Only' Jim (1920) ...

Ann Holloway - IMDb

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Ann Holloway, Actress: The Hurricane. The daughter of an entertainer, Ann was educated at Covents in Chelsea and Hertford and Mater Dei College in Welwyn Garden City. She started her career as a dancer before switching to acting. As an actress, she appeared on the London stage in plays such as "Spring Awakening" ...

Josh Holloway - IMDb

www.imdb.com/name/nm0391326/

Loncat ke Actor - Actor (27 credits). 2016-2018 Colony (TV Series) Will Bowman. - Episode dated 18 March 2018 (2018) ... Will Bowman. - Ronin (2017) ... Will Bowman. - Seppuku (2017) ... Will Bowman. - Lost Boy (2017) ... Will Bowman. - The Garden of Beasts (2017) ... Will Bowman.