Lack of good storyline.

Brilliant and touching

Best movie ever!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Other than not 'getting' the reference to the book the movie' gets its title from, this one's a pretty decent watch, of a family not quite together, and who does't quite keep it together, trying to deal with life as its dished out to them.Perry plays the patriarch, and seems a misfit in the role (in this movie), since those under his care, his brother (Ben Foster), and his sister (Ginnifer Goodwin), turn out, not so normal, or, depending on one's viewpoint, as messed up as the rest of us, but weird in their acknowledgment of that without hypocrisy, in their adult lives.Perry and his suburban challenges have already reached a head, when these 3 lives criss-cross once again, definitely heading toward a (portentously) dark denouement. Lauren Graham has nothing much to do, except towards the end, and though her character doesn't have much of an arc, she acquits herself well. Swank has a bit of a thankless job in this one, and like other reviewers have mentioned, anyone could have performed in this role. She might have taken it up since this did not require her to do any heavy lifting, and that would have meant a welcome change from all the other heavy stuff she's been know to do. Seeing her in this supporting role sometime took me out of the movie, since its quite a distraction.Perry the leading man can quite carry things off, and its strange that he hasn't done more roles, either in Indies or in the mainstream. Hopefully, that will change, since this is an example of him taking chances with the material he does, and could be known for. Foster's good as always, but needs to play characters who can lighten up a little bit - all the intensity might just be putting him in a typical mould, and that's not good for any actor who's capable of range.Having said all that, this is a pretty decent watch for once, and is quite similar to various other movies having been made about dysfunctional families in the recent past, in a good way.

Recently,there have been some movies dedicated to examine the silent melancholy of the middle class,hidden behind the illusion of "normality" the society requires to interact.In other words,films like Dan in Real Life,Kabluey and now Birds of America,are films which follow the themes and ideas examined on superior films like American Beauty and The Ice Storm.I think that the clue to success on this sub-genus is having interesting characters starred by actors who can dominate the difficult balance between humor and tragedy.Birds of America fulfills the second condition but the characters from this movie are not completely solid.Let's first talk about the good elements from this interesting,but not totally satisfactory,film.The dialogs from this movie are intelligent and realistic; they never feel forced.The performances are excellent.Matthew Perry brings a very solid performance,as well as Lauren Graham.Ginnifer Goodwin,Ben Foster and the great Hilary Swank also show conviction and credibility on their roles.And,in spite of the fails,I think this movie is an interesting experience.Now,let's see the negative elements.As I previously mentioned,the characters are not completely solid in spite of being perfectly performed.I mean,the characters are insipid because they lacked of more development on the screenplay.And,in spite of the short running time (85 minutes), the film gets a little bit dull on a few occasions.In spite of that fails,Birds of America is an interesting movie but I feel that with a better development of characters,it could have been much better than what it is.In summary,a good film but not completely satisfactory.

Great movie. It addresses to a great number of heavy subjects, such as mental illness, suicide, spouse-trouble without making it a serious depressing movie. It does not achieve this by putting lots of humor in it and so it didn't lose it's serious touch.Maybe the plot, or 'lesson-to-be-learned' is that you should fight given rules of society or bourgeoisie or what have you, BUT it's rather subtle. By this I mean that it doesn't put eccentric behavior on a pedestal (as in movies like Falling Down or American Beauty or Fightclub (just to mention some big names)).So this adds up in a good vibe and not hard-to-watch movie, acting and directing in this movie is great also.The only thing that could have bother me is the chasing-scene in the end, where they all meet up by 'accident', it's a bit too unrealistic to fit into the rest of the movie, but it does give it sort of an artistic twist.All in all in very much recommend this movie.

I was a little apprehensive going into this movie as Matthew Perry has not had much luck choosing successful films. While his television career has been critically successful with friends and studio 60, he is usually a victim of poor writing. In truth, although he will always be "Chandler Bing" as will the rest of the Friends crew, he does have talent for the dramatic. This is shown in "Birds of America" Being a future independent filmmaker, I chose to enter this movie with loosening my predisposed judgements and this helped me find the depth in the film. When watching independent cinema, you must always expect the unexpected and allow yourself to think outside the box.This film was significant as it dealt with the importance of family connection and being true to oneself. As well, it brings out the question "Is honesty always right". This has been a topic that has been debated for years. Honesty has always been thought of as a necessity, but what happens when it takes precedence to kindness? This is all dealt with during the film.In terms of the performances, I believe that the two strongest links in this film were Ginnifer Goodwin and Ben Foster as the "problem" siblings. Ginnifer Goodwin's mannerisms and subtle facial expressions really captivate the screen and for me, although Matthew Perry's character is considered the father figure in the story, she really is the central link of the sibling connection. Ben Foster was great as well. It's refreshing to see that some people in Hollywood are not encapsulated by money and fame and are just in acting for the material. Matthew Perry was very good as the older brother /father figure, but I found my attention drifting to the other characters performances when he was sharing scenes. Finally, Lauren Graham, who is also very talented and needs to make wiser choices than "Evan Almighty", was great as the desperate wife trying to get her husband to have a baby with her. In one scene, she makes washing clothes seem like such a luxury and with her subtle nuances, makes the audience truly feel for her.I thought the film was very good, but there were some slip ups. First off, Hilary Swank was wasted playing a stepford-wife type, which truth be told, could have been played by anyone. She is far better than that role. As well, although somewhat important to the theme of the film, I found the feces aspect of the film rather distracting and with exception to one humorous scene, took away from the storyline.It sometime amazes me that cinematography can be far superior in films with independent budgets. I really appreciate the "nature aspect that the cinematographer incorporated into the setting and I found that it really highlighted the themes of kindness and connection. The only complaint I have about the cinematography and lighting is that some scenes were very dark and it was difficult to truly connect with those scenes.All in all, it was a very good movie and I recommend it as a "lazy Sunday afternoon" type movie