The Big Year – review

Whatever lingering shreds remain of Jack Black's credibility are thoroughly extinguished by this limp, putatively feelgood comedy about birdwatching – or "birding", as Black testily emphasises at one point. All bite gone, he plays a put-upon data technician out to break the world record for species-spotting, and finds himself up against world-weary tycoon Steve Martin and oily building contractor Owen Wilson. 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. Only Wilson, doing his slimy yuppie act, is even remotely watchable.