The Big Year

{{Short description|2011 American film directed by David Frankel}}

{{Infobox film

| name = The Big Year

| image = The Big Year Poster.jpg

| caption = Teaser poster

| director = David Frankel{{cite web |url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810159155/cast |title=The Big Year (2011) |access-date=March 3, 2011 |work=Yahoo! Movies}}

| producer = Karen Rosenfelt
Stuart Cornfeld
Curtis Hanson

| writer = Howard Franklin

| based_on = {{Based on|The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession|Mark Obmascik}}

| starring = {{ubl|Steve Martin|Jack Black|Owen Wilson|Jim Parsons|Brian Dennehy|Anjelica Huston|Rashida Jones|Rosamund Pike|Dianne Wiest|JoBeth Williams}}

| music = Theodore Shapiro

| cinematography = Lawrence Sher

| editing = Mark Livolsi

| studio = Red Hour Films
Deuce Three
Ingenious Media
Sunswept Entertainment
Dune Entertainment

| distributor = 20th Century Fox

| released = {{Film date|2011|10|14}}

| runtime = 102 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $41 million{{cite web|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/10/movie-projector-footloose-the-thing-big-year.html|title=Movie Projector: New 'Footloose' could dance circles around rivals|last=Kaufman|first=Amy|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 13, 2011|access-date=October 14, 2011}}

| gross = $7.4 million{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bigyear.htm|title=The Big Year (2011) Box Office Mojo}}

}}

The Big Year is a 2011 American observational comedy film starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson, directed by David Frankel and written by Howard Franklin. The film was based on the 2004 non-fiction book The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik. The book follows three men on a quest for a Big Year – a competition among birders to see who can spot and identify the greatest number of bird species in North America (north of Mexico) in a calendar year. The three actual birders were Sandy Komito, Al Levantin, and Greg Miller, who were chasing Komito's prior record. The film uses the same premise with fictional characters.

Filming for The Big Year took place from May to July 2010.{{cite web |url=https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=64108 |title=The Big Year - Movie Database |access-date=March 3, 2011 |work=CraveOnline Media}} The film was released on October 14, 2011, in the United States,{{cite web |url=http://www.movieweb.com/movie/the-big-year |title=The Big Year (2011) |access-date=March 3, 2011 |work=MovieWeb}} and on December 2, 2011, in the United Kingdom.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053810/releaseinfo |title=The Big Year (2011) |access-date=March 3, 2010 |work=IMDb}} The Big Year received generally mixed reviews, although the three leads' performances were praised. However, it was a box office bomb, only grossing $7.4 million worldwide against a $41 million budget.{{Cite web |title=The Biggest Box Office Bombs of 2011 |url=https://www.highdefdigest.com/blog/boxoffice-bombs-2011/ |access-date=July 5, 2024 |website=The Bonus View}}

Plot

There are three seasoned birders who each set out to achieve a Big Year: Brad Harris, a 36-year-old computer programmer based in Baltimore; Stu Preissler, founder and CEO of a New York company bearing his name; and roofing contractor Kenny Bostick, who holds the current Big Year record of 732 birds.

Bostick is obsessively possessive of his record, but his third wife Jessica is concerned; this was supposed to be the year they focused on conceiving a child. She also believes that Bostick's birding obsession is what destroyed his two previous marriages.{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/movies/the-big-year-with-owen-wilson-and-steve-martin-review.html|title=Movie review: 'The Big Year'|last=Scott|first=A. O.|date=October 13, 2011|work=New York Times|access-date=10 October 2013}} He is so competitive that the others use his name as a kind of expletive: "Bostick!" Brad is a skilled birder who can identify nearly any species solely by sound, and hates his job maintaining the operational software of a nuclear power plant in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. Living with his parents after a failed marriage, an aborted career at Dell, and dropping out of grad school, he hopes that doing a Big Year will give him a sense of purpose and possibly even make his father proud of him.

Stu is the founder and CEO of an enormous Manhattan-based chemical conglomerate which he built from the ground up, starting in his garage. After decades of corporate success, he is ready to retire to Colorado with his architect wife. Fear of an empty schedule led him to come back from a previous retirement, but now he wants to leave his company in the hands of his two lieutenants. The company is in the middle of complicated negotiations to merge with a competitor, so his two anointed successors keep calling him back to New York for important meetings. To some extents, he is a prisoner of his own success. A Big Year has been his lifelong dream and he's pursuing it with the full support of his wife.

The movie portrays various incidents that take place during the Big Year event, while the trio compete with each other and many other birders to achieve the world record of sighting the highest number of birds. Brad and Stu become friends and help each other in the competition, and Brad is attracted to a fellow birder, Ellie. Meanwhile, the highly competitive Bostick resorts to dirty tricks to boost his own count while undermining the others.

As the year draws to a close, Stu is happily retired and enjoying his newborn grandson; Brad develops a relationship with Ellie; and Bostick is alone, as his wife has left him. Stu and Brad, now close friends, congratulate each other on "a very big year", after each sighting 700+ bird species that year. When the Big Year results are published, Bostick won the competition with 755, a new record; Brad came in second; Stu was fourth. Brad opines that "he (Bostick) got more birds, but we got more everything," as he looks at Ellie, who has come for a weekend visit. Stu smiles, looking at his wife.

The film ends with Brad and Ellie birding together on a rocky coastline, while Brad confesses that birding is no longer the biggest part of his life. Stu is hiking with his toddler grandson (already enamored by birds) in the Rockies. Bostick is on a birding adventure in China, alone and gazing wistfully at a happy couple walking with their newborn child.

Cast

Steve Martin as Stu Preissler
Jack Black as Brad Harris
Owen Wilson as Kenny Bostick
Rashida Jones as Ellie
Anjelica Huston as Annie Auklet
Jim Parsons as Crane
Rosamund Pike as Jessica
JoBeth Williams as Edith
Brian Dennehy as Raymond
Dianne Wiest as Brenda
Anthony Anderson as Bill Clemont
Tim Blake Nelson as Phil
Joel McHale as Barry Loomis
Calum Worthy as Colin Debs
Veena Sood as Nurse Katie
Corbin Bernsen as Gil Gordon
Stacey Scowley as Vicki
Jesse Moss as Darren
Kevin Pollak as Jim Gittelson
Barry Shabaka Henley as Dr. Neil Kramer
Andrew Wilson as Mike Shin
Al Roker as New York weatherman
John Cleese as narrator
June Squibb as the Old Lady
Steven Weber as Rick

Production

Dustin Hoffman was initially attached for the role of Stu.{{cite web|last=Sciretta|first=Peter|title=Steve Martin Replaces Dustin Hoffman In The Birdwatching Comedy The Big Year|date=March 10, 2010|website=Slash Film|url=https://www.slashfilm.com/508068/steve-martin-replaces-dustin-hoffman-in-the-birdwatching-comedy-the-big-year/|accessdate=January 14, 2025}}

Principal photography was done from May 3 to July 30, 2010, in Vancouver.{{cite web|url=http://www.bcfilmcommission.com/about_us/film_list.php|title=BCFC Film List|publisher=British Columbia Film Commission|date=October 2, 2011|access-date=October 2, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928104002/http://www.bcfilmcommission.com/about_us/film_list.php|archive-date=September 28, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} Jack Black's fall on Attu Island was unscripted.{{cite web|url=http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20120112/OUTDOORS/701129934/1010&parentprofile=1010|title=Jack Black's Unscripted Fall Makes It Into Final Cut|date=January 12, 2012|access-date=January 12, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126170101/http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20120112/OUTDOORS/701129934/1010%26parentprofile%3D1010|archive-date=January 26, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}{{dubious|date=July 2012}}

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. The Hollywood Reporter described it as a "genial, amusing and somewhat unfathomable" film;{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie/big-year/review/247630|title=The Big Year: Film Review|last=McCarthy|first=Todd|date=October 12, 2011|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=10 October 2013}} the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called it a "gentle, light-hearted comedy" about "people trying to be the best, following their dreams and enjoying the wonder of birds".{{cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sectionfront/life/get-into-nature-birders-love-the-big-year-321561/|title=Get into nature: Birders love 'The Big Year' |last=Shalaway|first=Scott|date=October 30, 2011|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|access-date=10 October 2013}} It holds {{a or an|{{RT data|score}}}} rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on {{RT data|count}} reviews, with an average rating of {{RT data|average}}. The consensus reads: "Though made with care and affection for its characters, The Big Year plods along, rarely reaching any comedic heights."{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_big_year|title=The Big Year (2011)|website=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Fandango|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}} CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B−" on an A+ to F scale.{{Cite web|last=McClintock|first=Pamela|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-report-footloose-grosses-248906|title='Box Office Report: 'Footloose' Grosses $5.57 Million, On Course To Dance Away With The Weekend - The Hollywood Reporter|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=October 14, 2011|access-date=October 16, 2011}}

The film was a box office failure, despite the established stars like Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson as the leads. Based on a budget of $41 million, it took in just $7.4 million in ticket sales worldwide according to Box Office Mojo.

Songs

Song	Writer	Performer
class="wikitable"
Minor Swing	Stéphane Grappelli and Jean Reinhardt	Django Reinhardt
(If I Had) A Sandwich With You	Dan DiPrima and Alex Marlowe	Zombie Bank
Wheel of Fortune Underscore	courtesy of Sony Pictures
The Devil Never Sleeps	Sam Beam	Iron & Wine
Pitkin County Turnaround	Steve Martin	Steve Martin
Let It Shine	Jeremy Fisher	Jeremy Fisher
I'll Have the Halibut	Dan DiPrima and Alex Marlowe	Zombie Bank
Away With Pie	Dan DiPrima and Alex Marlowe	Zombie Bank
The Dog's Decree - Concerto in C Major	Antonio Vivaldi	Alexandre Desplat
Viva la Vida	William Champion, Christopher Martin, Guy Berryman, & Jonathan Buckland	Coldplay
Come Fly Away	Jeremy Fisher and Jack Livesey	Jeremy Fisher
Surfin' Bird	Alfred Frazier, John Harris, Turner Wilson Jr., and Carl White	The Trashmen
Blackbird	John Lennon and Paul McCartney	Brad Mehldau
I Like Birds	E	Eels
Adeste Fideles	Traditional, Arranged by Virginia S. Davidson	New York Treble Singers
Silent Night	Franz Xaver Gruber, Joseph Mohr and John Freeman Young	Bing Crosby
This Could All Be Yours	Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner, Brian Rosenworcel and Joe Pisapia	Guster
Auld Lang Syne	Traditional, Arranged by Guy Lombardo	Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians

^{Soundtrack references:}https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053810/soundtrack IMDB soundtrack reference {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=March 2022}}