Three highly competitive birdwatchers (Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson) set out to score a record number of sightings across North America during the 1998 "The Big Year" birder's competition. This is a year when weather forces more birds than usual into the skies and the three men see birds they've never seen before in a race to be the Number One Birder in the world. Also with Brian Dennehy, Anjelica Huston, Rashida Jones, Rosamund Pike, Dianne Wiest, JoBeth Williams and Anthony Anderson. Directed by David Frankel. [1:40]

SEX/NUDITY 3 - A fully clothed man is greeted by his wife who is wearing a bathrobe that reveals bare lower legs; she sits astride his lap and they talk about having sex in order to have a child, the man sees a weather forecast on TV that will help his bird watching and runs out of the house as his wife is left looking sad.
► A woman in her bathroom has pulled down the top of her skirt to inject fertility hormones and we see her bare right buttock. A woman wears a low-cut blouse that reveals some cleavage. A woman wears a paper hospital gown in a fertility clinic, revealing bare arms and legs. A woman is shown sitting on a staircase and wearing a robe that reveals cleavage, partially bare thighs and lower legs. An overweight man sits in bed watching TV without his trousers on, with a large jar of peanut butter between his legs (we see bare thighs and knees). In a co-ed bunkhouse scene, we see a man wearing only a towel around his waist and his bare chest and abdomen are shown.
► A husband accuses his wife of having sex with another man, she denies it, and he leaves the house to end the scene. A wife tells her husband that she can no longer be married, because he will not come to the fertility clinic to help her become pregnant. A wife tells her husband, "I'm getting fertility treatments. You can't keep going out bird watching" (indicating they need to have sex). A man tells another man that he cannot persuade women to go out with him on dates because he cannot stop talking about his divorce. A man tells another man outside a bunkhouse, "You bought me drinks and got what you wanted" while passersby stare at them thinking the man is complaining about sexual imposition (we hear that information was what the second man had wanted). A man and a woman announce her pregnancy at a holiday dinner and we later see them show their new baby to his grandfather. We hear about bald eagles grabbing claws in the air and spinning around is a mating ritual and a bird watcher says, "Bhagavad-Gita" to suggest odd sexual rituals and walks away. An older man tells a younger man that a woman with a boyfriend does not mean that the couple's possible future marriage is guaranteed. We hear that an unmarried man and woman will spend a weekend together in a cabin.

VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - A man falls asleep while driving, awakens to avoid a head-on collision with a truck, swerves and wrecks his car against a tree; the passenger moans that his right arm is broken, but does not go for treatment.
► A small airplane encounters a storm that causes turbulence and we see passengers being tossed around; one woman cries and moans, but is unhurt. A helicopter pilot scares his two passengers by flying close to rocks along a mountain, and laughs.
► Many men and women run out of a bunkhouse to get a view of a rare bird, shouting and pushing each other and some fall down (no one appears injured). A man falls down a tall patch of rocks on a prairie, ending face down in dirt but unharmed. Several seagulls dive at a woman that has a scarf that had been wrapped around salmon pieces and she screams, but is unharmed. A father and his son walk in a snowy forest, the father asks for his oxygen tank, the son walks ahead some distance, but runs back, shouting for his dad to make sure he's OK (he finds that he is fine). A man rushes to a hospital after we hear that his father had a minor heart attack (the father has recovered).
► In black and white historical footage, a hunter shoots a duck out of the air and we see him pick up several dead ducks by their tied-together necks. Half a dozen scenes show people cutting up salmon on chopping blocks to use as bait to lure sea birds in for photography; we see fish sliced open, piles of fish skin, bloody water and fish bones as well as a bird pulling a bit of fish skin over some ice.
► A man becomes seasick on a boat after another man keeps talking about the roll and pitch of the boat; the man vomits over the side of the boat (we hear him retching but see only his back).
► Several arguments occur in the film and we hear raised voices briefly. A man and a woman argue over what should be done in the remodeling of their house. A boss and employee argue about the employee's taking time off to bird watch. Two couples each argue about the husband not spending enough time at home. Businessmen argue with a retired man about his not wanting to come back to work. A woman tour boat captain argues with an intrusive passenger and points a knife at him (the man backs off). A man and his adult son argue about the son's hobby of bird watching and the two men yell loudly until the wife and mother intervenes to stop the argument.
► A toilet is thrown out of an upstairs window toward the audience and we hear that a house is being remodeled.

LANGUAGE 4 - 1 not fully enunciated F word, 4 scatological terms, 8 anatomical terms, 12 mild obscenities, exclamations (shut up), name-calling (idiot, jerk, crazy, old man, cheater, pig, vultures, pathetic, golf widow, sucker), stereotypical references to competitions winners, men, women, hobbyists, bird watchers, divorce, the Chinese, Americans, senior citizens, business people, working, 3 religious profanities, 3 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - A man on a boat takes seasickness tablets, and when a man tells a male friend that a very rare bird can be sighted nearby the second one responds by saying "What's he smokin'? I'd like to get me some of that." Several New Year's Eve parties include men and women sipping champagne, two older people sleep in front of a TV with open beer bottles sitting on an end table near them, we see a glass of beer in front of a computer keyboard, men and women drink from glasses filled with champagne at several holiday parties, three restaurant scenes show men and women sipping alcohol, a bar scene shows two men drinking cocktails, and a bunkhouse scene shows men and women talking and drinking beer and liquor.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Competition, winning, obsessive behaviors, business, relationships, family, children, conflict, setting priorities.

MESSAGE - Family and friends are more important than winning.