Birds of America

And I found I just didn't want to see anymore. Just couldn't buy into the quirky brother, the quirky sister. It wasn't good enough. The writing, the directing. The acting. No.

"GREAT VERY SLOW STORY",ODD STORY AT FIRST, BUT WE STUCK WITH IT AND ITDID FINALLY COMPLETED THE ENJOYMENT OF MATTHEW PERRY MOVIE NIGHT!!

I really liked this movie it shows how we deal with diverse families who have real issues and how siblings get along with each other when they face depression and mental health!

Bought as a gift for a friend, and they absolutely love it. Item was as described and delivery was quick and easy.

Matthew Perry is an excellent actor and anything he stars in is great....Disfunctional familys are more the norm today than ever before...Love is the only thing holding them together...

The story of Morrie and his two dysfunctional siblings, homeless and troubled Jay (Ben Foster) and Ida (Ginnifer Goodwin) come into his life again. He is married to Betty (Lauren Graham) and they live in a beautiful suburb. The film was done on location in Norwalk, Connecticut. The film is an examination of family relationships. Morrie works as a non-tenured professor and Betty wants a family. His siblings have re-entered his life unexpectedly and he has to examine his relationships with them.The film is fine but there are lot of weaknesses in the script area. Double Oscar Winner, Hillary Swank, who plays a neighbor is sorely underused in her role and in the film. Morrie comes undone slowly from the tight wrap of a man. The film has some fine moments for Matthew Perry who played Morrie. Perry can be a serious actor if given the opportunity.The DVD has no special features to help explain the film itself. The script and the filming with some insight by the cast and crew would have been helpful in understanding it. The film begins about Morrie's father's fascination with the Audubon's "Birds of America" but never ventures to explain how it connects to the film.

Birds of America tries to be amusing and unusual but doesn't truly make it. I'd recommend watching this for some good performances by Matthew Perry, Ben Foster, Ginnifer Goodwin and Lauren Graham. Hilary Swank's talent is largely wasted on a rather small role and the toilet humor (with Perry's character literally spending huge amounts of time sitting on the toilet) didn't work too well for me, either. However, the movie does flow along and the cinematography impressed me. The script is just average but then again the musical score wasn't all that bad.Physics teacher Morrie Tanager (Matthew Perry) yearns for tenure; and after seven years of teaching he is finally eligible for it--as long as his next door neighbor and boss/quasi -friend Paul (Gary Wilmes) gives Morrie political support. Trouble is, Morrie and his wife Betty (Lauren Graham) can't stand snooty Paul and his wife Laura (Hilary Swank); but they lead a very straight laced life merely to get in good with Paul and Laura. Worse trouble for Morrie comes when he is chronically constipated (for months, he says?) and his nutty brother Jay (Ben Foster) and his rather loose sister and also nutty sister Ida (Ginnifer Goodwin) descend upon their household just as Morrie is finally up for tenure. This, of course, drives Morrie and Betty crazy; they are also embarrassed and ashamed of Jay and Ida whenever Paul and Laura see them. Moreover, Morrie and Betty fight over whether they should start trying to have a baby and Morrie is the polar opposite of Jay and Ida.There's still more where this came from; and there are a few plot twists that will surprise you. The movie itself is nothing truly special; but it is light entertainment and that does have its value. I recommend this film for fans of the actors in it; and people who like quirky comedies might consider this--although I would walk and not run to get it. It's average.

BIRDS OF AMERICA is not a cinematic version of Lorrie Moore's best selling collection of short stories by the same name. This little tale of a dysfunctional family was written by Elyse Friedman, a Canadian novelist and screenwriter (Then Again, Long Short Story, Waking Beauty) whose works are summed up by the author: "If I had to sum up [my characters] in one word, I'd say `outsiders.' There's not one particular source from where I get my inspiration. It comes from different places. I get it from life, and ideas pop into my head. I file them away and sooner or later it's time to deal with them, whether in screenplay, book, or poem or whatever it happens to be." Craig Lucas (Longtime Companion, Prelude to a Kiss, The Dying Gaul) joins Friedman in bringing this strange little story about outsiders and insiders, all living together under one bizarre roof.Morrie (Matthew Perry) is the older brother who raised his free-spirited siblings Jay (Ben Foster) and Ida (Ginnifer Goodwin) after the death of their parents. Their lives have gone in different directions: Morrie is a professor in line for tenure that happens to be at the mercy of his fellow academician Paul (Gary Wilmes) who lives next door to Morrie and his sturdy but 'it's time to start a family' wife Betty (Lauren Graham). Paul and his obsessive compulsive gardening wife-new-mother Laura (Hilary Swank) do all the right things, a trait Morrie and Betty try to emulate to assure Morrie's getting tenured, a move that will assure Betty that motherhood can be approached.Into this strained atmosphere drops Jay recovering from an accident (he lay on the freeway and was hit but not killed). Alone (he is married to a young girl Gillian (Zoë Kravitz) but does not share this information at first) Jay moves into Morrie's attic and continues his strange life pattern, imposing his Vegan style on the family and eventually inviting his equally looney sister Ida to move in, too: Ida takes the basement. The two siblings proceed to cause minor crises and dilemmas for Morrie, more or less resulting in Morrie's being alienated from his 'important' neighbors. How Morrie and Betty adjust to their new found way of life and its consequences provides an ending to the story.The film is slight and begs indulgence in some of the sidebars that are less than contributing to the film as a whole, but the cast is very good: Ben Foster and Ginnifer Goodwin continue to impress as they polish their acting skills. The story is a little on the crazy side, but it does provide another way of viewing a dysfunctional family. Grady Harp, March 11

I really love Matthew Perry - and he himself is very good in the role of the main character - its just the story is a bit odd and quite flat in places... i kind of liked it but at times i was thinking to myself.. what on earth is going on here!!!! ?? but its worth a watch as a Matthew Perry fan ... he is his usual brilliant self.

Great movie, anything with Matthew Perry and Lauren Graham in it is great

Der Film ist sehr gut gemacht, jedoch schwere Kost. Man muss sich auf diesen Film konzentrieren und alles verfolgen. Diesen Film sollte man nur ansehen, wenn man wirklich gut drauf ist.

Musste Monate auf diesen Film warten. Erst gab es ihn nicht in deutsch, dann gab es Lieferschwierigkeiten. Aber die Wartezeit hat sich gelohnt.

Ich find den Film super.Zur Story sag ich jetzt mal nichts, muss man sich einfach anschauen.Es ist keine "klassische Komödie und nichts was schön ausgeschmückt ist, einfach skurril.Der Film ist definitiv zu empfehlen, wenn man auf etwas andere Filme steht.