![]() ![]() Kevin Kline is also on board as a shrink-turned-veterinarian (only in a movie like this) who offers Lilly a reluctant hand with both her shaky emotional state and her fine feathered foe. Like much else here, what happens is - in theory - affecting, but doesn’t play out strongly or credibly enough to match its desired effect. The bird plays a more integral part toward the end of the film, but it’s a turn that feels so predictably contrived and symbolic that it takes the story down with it. But unlike this year’s superior (and true-life) trauma drama “Penguin Bloom,” in which the arrival of an injured magpie helps an accident victim heal her soul, the starling often feels beside the point and only tenuously connected to the action. Vincent”) than because of any true depth of character or authentic emotional dissection.Īnd then there’s that pesky title character: an aggressive and territorial starling that invades Lilly’s space, pecks away at her garden and knocks her to the ground so often she starts wearing a helmet and even tries to poison the bird. But that’s due more to the casting of McCarthy and O’Dowd, a pair of uncommonly engaging actors (they also appeared together in “Bridesmaids” and Melfi’s fine “St. We want to sympathize with Lilly and Jack - she’s a supermarket worker holding down the fort at home (a lovely country house she inherited), he’s a grade-school teacher being treated in a mental health facility for unmanageable depression - and root for them to find their way back to the world and each other. There are strong, relatable themes here, particularly involving the different ways parents may grieve the loss of a child and the attendant guilt, resentment and confusion that can divide a couple at a time when they need to unite the most.īut “The Starling,” directed by Theodore Melfi ( “Hidden Figures”), is no “Ordinary People” (few movies are) and screenwriter Matt Harris’ overreliance on whimsy and a seemingly desperate need to tug at our hearts - instead of our minds - undercuts the film’s more valid situations and sentiments. ![]() (More specifics about the girl’s demise - and less about her bedroom décor - wouldn’t have hurt.) That’s just one of several problems with this forced dramedy about Lilly (Melissa McCarthy) and Jack (Chris O’Dowd), a married couple muddling through life a year after losing their baby daughter from, apparently, sudden infant death syndrome. It turns out, she’s speaking for all of us. The metaphors swoop in so shamelessly in “The Starling” that, at one point, even the film’s protagonist calls someone out for his blatant messaging (“Real subtle stuff, Larry!”). Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials. ![]() The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic. ![]()
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