Birds of America (2007)

Morrie (Matthew Perry, Friends) is the keeper of all things family related, including his siblings. In this comedic foray into sibling relationships, Morrie's little brother Jay (Ben Foster, 3:10 to Yuma, X-Men: The Last Stand) is beyond peculiar, homeless and humorously, but clinically, depressed. His beautiful sister Ida (Ginnifer Goodwin, Big Love) is a promiscuous insomniac and sometime photographer that is starved for attention. Morrie's wife Betty (Lauren Graham, Gilmore Girls) has waited patiently for seven years for their hard work to pay off so they can start a family. Morrie's life is unraveling. As his family's antics infuriate his boss and neighbor, his dreams of success are quickly destroyed. Morrie gets a wake-up call and he comes to realize that the people who really care for him will stand by his side no matter what.

A quirky family

A quirky family trying to hang onto their sanity struggles to be there for one another, even as they are each emotionally falling apart. Mathew Perry stars as the sibling that had to grow up too fast after his dad has an 'accident' (or did he?) and his mother dies, leaving him to care for his younger siblings at the age of eighteen. His early struggles leave him rigid and fearful of change, or standing up for himself. When his strange sister and unbalanced brother come to stay with him his control over his life unravels so far that he may never be able to pull it together again. A look at unique and bizarre characters in this story of a family flailing along, trying to hold their heads above water and nearly taking each other under in the process.

Chrissy K. McVay - Author November 30, 2008

Classic Structure, Mediocre Content

I love Matthew Perry, but he needs someone to help him pick better films. I like films about dysfunctional families, but this movie was a sub-par example of the genre. This movie had the elements of a promising film but the content of the scenes was not clever, humorous, or perceptive enough. (Though there is one scene that sticks in my memory involving smoking marijuana that I thought was authentic/original/cool.)

Instead of this, if you haven't seen it, see The Safety of Objects, a film that my subconscious keeps returning to months after seeing it.
November 24, 2008

Downhill After the Titles

The title is the best thing about this stinker. Sounds like a new age novelist dispensing second rate wisdom. And what we get is third rate wisdom. Poor Matthew Perry must raise his young siblings after dad offs himself and mom konks out. Sis, Ginnifer Goodwin, is a you know what and Ben Foster wanders around like a dazed holy man. The mentally ill are supposed to be smarter than us in these films. Send the local DPA more of your tax money because these losers need to be locked up for sure. They're nuts.

The scene of liberation where Matt Perry has to do something really awful to his daffy neighbors lawn, jeech, embarrassing, awful, so uncool. Couldn't he just poison the dog?
November 21, 2008

Birds of America is another winner for Matthew Perry

Its really great to see that Matthew Perry from Friends is still hard at work. This is a really strong movie. I can totally relate to the family situation and the whole thing is so heartfelt. Also loved Hillary Swank and Ginnifer Goodwin. November 10, 2008

2 stars for Goodwin and Foster

Essentially this dysfunctional film implodes on itself in numerous ways, so much so that any description of the plot or otherwise would just be boring. The only two reasons to see this would be to watch the range that Ben Foster and Ginnifer Goodwin have. I liked Foster in 3:10 to Yuma and I think this role helped show his variety, as with Goodwin.

This is not a film to grab if you think Hillary Swank, Perry or Graham do anything special. Swank has 5 scenes, Perry spends half the film on a toilet (toilet humor does not work for me anymore) and Graham just seemed to miss it. Watching Perry scoop dog crap up well over ten times didn't work for me either. I like the films from First Look, but this one doesn't meet the grade of competency, except for Foster building a solid foundation - and when I think about it he actually had more screen time than anyone, so maybe they should change the cover art to him. October 18, 2008

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