Where, oh where, would we be without marketing? We wouldn’t know what to read, what to see, what to think. Why, we’d be lost! Wouldn’t we? We can’t just have the sheep wandering away from the shepherd willy nilly. It would be chaos! Wouldn’t it? Well, I admit it, I’m the sheep that is constantly getting plunked in the lost and found. I follow along, see the movies that the TV tells me to see, then inexplicably find myself searching for some little known, scantily advertised gem. This scatter-brained approach to movie selection has led me to many good movies, both blockbusters and sleepers. So I continue in my unorthodox ways. Unfortunately, I also end up seeing a good number of stinkers in the process. In my most recent foray from the herd, I found the film Rare Birds. Sometimes the herd is right.

Rare Birds stars William Hurt as Dave Purcell. Dave is a struggling restaurateur whose establishment, The Auk, is perched on the lonely and stark cliffs of the coast of Newfoundland. The Auk, even with Dave’s considerable skills as chef, is failing. Utterly. Dave’s wife has left him, the local boys mock him, and life is, in general, not too keen.

Dave has a good, albeit very eccentric, friend in Alphonse (Andy Jones). Alphonse has a good many secrets, to which Dave is vaguely privy as the movie opens. He has built himself a new type of recreational vehicle and is constantly on the lookout for the “Winnebago” people, who, he is convinced, are out to steal his design. He is also the type that perpetually has something up his sleeve, and he soon focuses his dubious powers on saving The Auk. His scheme involves a sighting of the titular rare bird, the Tasker’s Sulphurious Duck. This, surmises Alphonse, will bring bird watchers to this lonesome coast in droves, where they will, of course, eat at Dave’s restaurant. The perfect plan. Or maybe not.

The story plays out from here, with the introduction of some subplots involving cocaine, a romance and a ground breaking technological discovery.

Director Stulla Gunnarson and screenwriter (and writer of the novel upon which the film is based) Edward Riche serve up a movie that is rather cute, in a quirky sort of way. Dave is truly a schmuck. Awkward, dumpy and generally rather dim. He is something of an idiot savant, a brilliant chef who is otherwise pretty much a complete dork. Alphonse is squirrelly and intermittently funny, with manic energy and paranoia to burn. The eventual love interest, Alice (Molly Parker) is cute and likable.

Unfortunately, rather cute is as good as Rare Birds gets. William Hurt does not come off as appealing, and his comic timing is not good. What we end up with is a character that is hard to empathize with, as he bumbles along with little planning or skill. The comedy inherent to the character, with his dopey, dumpy ways, is lost in the translation by Hurt, whose comedic presence is weak. His romance with Alice is of the generally icky middle aged man with college age girl type. The ick factor is increased by the Hurt character, who has little in the way of appealing qualities, making it even more difficult to buy the attraction by this young, smart and capable girl. The romance is also poorly developed, with hints and winks, suddenly turning into full-blown seduction without the proper build up.

Andy Jones as Alphonse is quirky indeed, but the character lacks a certain charisma. His quirks have a rather disjointed quality that does not serve the character well. His genius, paranoia and loyalty are not pulled together well enough to make the character either particularly sympathetic or particularly interesting. Andy Jones does an admirable job with what he is given, however, at least giving Alphonse a rather sweet, if weird, air.

The aforementioned subplots are simply abysmal. As already discussed, the romance is tepid and unappealing. The cocaine storyline seems incredibly out of place, and the technological breakthrough has the feel of a last ditch attempt to add some zing to the plot.

The setting is really quite remarkable, the craggy cliffs and crashing waves, but it is used minimally. The time spent focused on the locale is well used, and the photography (Jan Kiesser) here is excellent. There just isn’t anywhere near enough of it. The score (Jonathan Goldsmith), filled with Celtic type sounds, is likable enough, if a bit distracting at times.

What it really comes down to is that the movie fails in two places. The basic plot and the performance of the lead. The primary story of the failing restaurant and the made up story to save it wears thin quickly, and the outcome is inevitable. The addition of various and sundry odds and ends (both characters and story lines) in an effort to fill it out simply doesn’t gel. The movie ends up without cohesion and never develops a rhythm or pace that allow the stories to flow, either together or separately.

The performance by the William Hurt is just as big a problem. As a dramatic actor Hurt can be quite compelling. While essentially always playing the same character, he can still carry a movie with some degree of aplomb. As a comedian, he is miserable. As they say, dying is easy, comedy is hard. The best comedians make it look effortless. Hurt makes it look torturous. His gallumping around in an effort to appear physically uncomfortable and awkward just looks false and ridiculous. His inebriated Dave is almost embarrassing to watch. His comic timing is slow and ineffective, and his delivery is mechanical and wooden. He just plain is not funny. And when the movie relies on him being both funny and sexually appealing, and he is neither, the movie inevitably incurs rather major damage.

There are some small spots where Rare Birds manages to be either funny or touching, but they are very few and very far between, and the whole thing is dragged down by a thin plot and an uninspired lead performance. If you are a major fan of William Hurt you might find something of interest here. The occasional chuckle and the beautiful locale give this movie a bit of flair, but make no mistake, the film as a whole is only one step above a stinker. Someday I’ll learn when to stick with the herd and when to stray. Until then, I’m gonna suffer through some Rare Birds. Two and a half stars rounded down to two.


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD