Two Comedies from Fox

The Big Year (October 12/11)

Based on a non-fiction book by Mark Obmascik, The Big Year follows three men (Jack Black's Brad Harris, Owen Wilson's Kenny Bostick, and Steve Martin's Stu Preissler) as they attempt to win a contest based on which competitor spots the most birds in a single year - with the rivalry between the disparate figures inevitably taking several unexpected turns. In its early stages, The Big Year comes off as a slick, briskly-paced comedy that benefits substantially from the personable work of its stars - as the affable performances effectively perpetuate the film's feel-good atmosphere and, at the outset, ensure that the thin premise isn't as problematic as one might've feared. It's only as the movie charges into its increasingly stagnant midsection that the viewer's interest begins to flag, as filmmaker David Frankel is increasingly unable to transform birdwatching into a wholeheartedly engrossing endeavor. The director, working from Howard Franklin's screenplay, attempts to compensate by suffusing the proceedings with a number of fairly pointless subplots (eg Bostick's marital difficulties, Harris' confrontational relationship with his father, etc, etc), which only exacerbates the progressively uneven atmosphere and confirms the movie's place as a slick yet empty piece of work.

A low-key coming-of-age story, Terri follows the title character (Jacob Wysocki), a depressive, overweight teenager, as his life takes a turn for the better after he befriends his school's outgoing principal (John C. Reilly's Mr. Fitzgerald) and two fellow social outcasts (Bridger Zadina's Chad and Olivia Crocicchia's Heather). There's little doubt that Terri gets off to an almost unwatchable start, as filmmaker Azazel Jacobs, working from Patrick Dewitt's screenplay, offers up an oppressively deliberate opening half hour that's rife with pointless interludes and uneventful stretches (eg Terri sets up mousetraps in his house). The film's less-than-engrossing atmosphere is compounded by Wysocki's competent yet charmless performance, with the actor's subdued work holding the viewer at arm's length and ensuring that his character never quite becomes the wholeheartedly sympathetic figure that Jacobs has clearly intended. Terri's dull atmosphere persists right up until Reilly's Mr. Fitzgerald enters the proceedings, as the actor, who delivers as entertaining and magnetic a performance as one might've expected, infuses the film with a much-needed jolt of energy that effectively (and instantly) buoys the viewer's waning interest. And although Reilly is consistently engaging here (eg at the close of a meeting, his character tells a student, "Fitzy needs a high five!"), Terri, which eventually morphs into a deadpan, Napoleon Dynamite-like comedy, peters out significantly as it passes the one-hour mark - as the movie is ultimately dominated by sequences of an overlong and flat-out interminable nature (eg a friendly sleepover that turns ugly). It is, as a result, impossible to label Terri as anything more than a sporadically passable yet hopelessly uneven piece of work, with Reilly's mere presence going a long way towards perpetuating the film's mildly watchable atmosphere.