Samiam3 Rare Birds is indeed a rare find, an original and quirky little comedy, but one that is good when it could have been great. With one step in the wrong direction, Rare Birds takes a bit of a fall from grace, but not too far at least. It remains entertaining, in a way that few comedies are.Dave runs a small hotel and restaurant in coastal Newfoundland, but business is poor, and he is tempted to close, until his friend Phonce comes up with the idea of faking the sighting of a rare bird on the water that his hotel overlooks (a species of duck thought to be extinct). Suddenly he has a whole army of nutty birdwatchers flocking to his corner of the island. A fun start to the movie, but obviously not fun enough.For some reason the filmmakers are so desperate to please us that they turn Rare Birds away from charm and towards slapstick. There are a couple of awkward subplots, one involving a mini sub that Phonce has created in his garage and another which involves some military technology that Phonce has stolen which leads to him and Dave taking a secret agent hostage. It all builds up to such absurdity that it literally ends in a bang.The cast is a strange but charming bunch. Both William Hurt and Molly Parker are likable on screen, but it is Phonce who steals the movie. Everything comedic about Rare Birds revolves around him and the things he does.Even if the movie looses some of its potential to somewhat banal direction, I think it's pretty hard not to like Rare Birds even a little bit.

MW32 This is a bad movie. I say this despite the fact that 1) I am a birdwatcher, 2) I think Wm. Hurt is a fine actor, 3) I love redheads, 4) the Newfoundland coast is quite striking, and 5) all the acting is generally pretty good. But actors can't do anything with a script this bad, and direction this witless.The movie really, really wants to be endearingly quirky, and it tries really, really hard to be quirky. The problem is, you can't force quirkiness; you have to be genuinely quirky. Forcing it just reveals the desperation behind a lame script with barely a laugh through the whole thing. (The one exception: "Who's going to come after us? The International Bird Police? The IBP?" Not an exact quote but close enough.) All the many subplots seem meant to give a kind of madcap atmosphere to the events, but none is fleshed out and they seem, to put it kindly, implausible.Telling is the fact that the writer didn't even bother to do basic research on birds and birdwatching. If you can't do the little things right, you aren't going to do the big things right.Hurt seemed faintly embarrassed at times to have to do what he was asked to do. The one single convincing scene in the movie---when Hurt silently rubs Parker's tired foot---was probably made up on the spot, because it's too real to be part of the rest of this contrived mess.

jakking A fine piece of work that deserves to be seen more widely. I agree with the previous comment only so far as the cocaine sub-plot is concerned. Nicely rounded cast (including Mary Walsh who is uncredited as the younger waitress's mother).Molly Parker was sensuality itself, while Andy Jones had the rough conviviality that his role needed. William Hurt sustained his part well, and I didn't really notice the slips in accent (though I recognize they were there).The cocaine sequences were pointless (and presumably gave the film its R rating), and the ending with the ridiculously hapless RCMP was a little disappointing. However, by that time the film had charmed me enough to make it not matter.

nancynorthoaks It's worth the time to see 'Rare Birds' just for a look at the raw,rugged beauty that is Newfoundland. The cinematography is excellent. A middleaged restaurateur, William Hurt, can't seem to market his talent for excellent cooking resulting in his restaurant going bust. His friend, Andy Jones, devises a quirky scheme to bring people to Hurt's restaurant on a remote part of Newfoundland. This is a lighthearted, madcap movie with humor, silliness and a bit of romance. Molly Parker and William Hurt sparkle together. Andy Jones is very good as Hurt's offbeat, optimistic friend. Out of 10, 'Rare Birds' deserves an 8.