The Starling

For me, their scenes are the highlight of The Starling, partly because it is thrilling to see two superstars share a scene and partly because those scenes are the least predictable. Larry’s an enigma — who leaves a successful psychiatry practice to become a vet? This question is touched on but mostly left unresolved. I’m tired of the trope of having the main character go to a psychiatrist, as it seems a lazy way out of laying bare a character’s soul. But a reluctant psychiatrist? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that. The characters have breakthroughs, of course, but neither of these two breaks down in the presence of each other. Still, each certainly has felt the influence of the other.

The McCarthy/O’Dowd interactions are about what you’d expect. When they’re on the same wavelength, they’re magic. Sadly, for much of the film, they’re not (by design), as they each individually cope with their loss. I get it, but Jack didn’t have much to do for most of the runtime except pretend he was fine when he clearly wasn’t and hide his meds. It was all sadly perfunctory and unsurprising.

“…Melissa McCarthy and Kevin Kline are worth the price of admission alone.”

But the real missed opportunities of The Starling involve McCarthy and Olyphant. Olyphant is way too good of an actor for such a minor role, and he just has nothing to do but scold Lilly. For the love of God people, if you have McCarthy and Olyphant in the same film, give them something to do!

A plot device used to keep bringing the reluctant psychiatrist-turned-vet and patient together is the frequent attacks by both parental halves of starlings protecting their nest. The film has a disproportionately insane amount of CGI bird footage, from the opening credits to attacks on some characters to birds raising their young. It is a heavy-handed metaphor, which at least Melfi acknowledges, but even still, come on. The device isn’t nearly as interesting or charming as the filmmakers seem to believe.

The Starling is trying to be a feel-good movie about finding hope in dark times. That’s admirable, but the main problem is that it does it in such a down-the-middle, straightforward way. As a result, there aren’t any surprises and at least a few missed opportunities. Still, Melissa McCarthy and Kevin Kline are worth the price of admission alone.