(CNN) -- Birders define "a big year" as an informal competition to see who can spot the most species of birds in a certain area in a calendar year.





Let me start off with a disclaimer: I am a bit of a bird nerd. Not a serious birder by any stretch (I have never gone on vacation specifically for the birds, for example ... well, not a long one, anyway), but my iPhoto has been known to contain more than a few shots of birds, and my iPhone does have iBird Explorer Plus. Oh, and as a child, my dad and I would spend the occasional summer afternoon in the country listening to records of bird calls.





However, just because I like birds doesn't mean I am predisposed to liking a movie with a lot of birds in it. I am a huge baseball fan too, but am perfectly able to recognize a bad baseball movie when I see one. "Major League 2," anyone? In addition, a good film needs to have something to it in addition to the surface subject matter. What I am trying to say is, just because this is a film about birding doesn't mean it's a film about birding.





Stu Preissler (Steve Martin), Brad Harris (Jack Black) and Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson) are three birders who may (or may not) be attempting a Big Year. The thing is, it's such a competitive field that those attempting such a feat tend to keep the information to themselves, so as to not inspire the competition. Paying possum is a big part of a Big Year.





The head of a corporation, Stu is nearing retirement age. He wants to quit the rat race, do something for himself (A Big Year, natch) and settle down in Colorado with his wife, Edith (JoBeth Williams). Of course his corporate underlings, smarmily played by Kevin Pollak and Joel McHale, continuously try to pull him off the road and into the board room.





Brad, in his mid-30s and divorced, is low on funds and morale. He's stuck in a job he hates and aches to do something truly great. As a birder, this means breaking the world record held by Bostick (almost always referred to by his surname with a mix of derision, awe and envy by his fellow birders).





For Stu and Brad, while the undertaking of a Big Year is exciting, it's also a means to an end, not the end itself, and the journey is at least as important as the result. One of the joys of this film is watching their excitement when some El NiÃ±o weather phenomena means that there's a likelihood of a mass of grounded birds (a storm in Florida) or a super rare sighting (a pink-footed goose, rarely seen in the U.S.).





To the arrogant and absurdly colorfully attired Bostick, however, the Big Year is personal and more about him than it is about the birds. It's his record, and his status as world champion is more important to him than anything, even his devoted wife, Jessica (Rosamund Pike). Bostick is constantly promising to hang up his binoculars and start a family, only to receive a call with a rare bird sighting somewhere across the country and hit the road again.





Stu and Brad quickly become friends and repeatedly run into each other throughout the year in far-flung parts of the continent, and travel they do. "The Big Year" takes them from Maine to Key West to Arizona to Attu Island, Alaska, the westernmost island in the Aleutians, closer to Russia than it is to the Alaskan mainland (of course the production didn't actually shoot there, but they did shoot in the Yukon). The scenery and wildlife on display are at times breathtaking.





The thing is (up on my avian soapbox, again), I can see the appeal. After all, birds are amazing creatures. They can fly, which is amazing in and of itself, and oh, by the way, isn't one of
What does the film include? Who stars in "The Big Year"?
birding Stu Preissler (Steve Martin), Brad Harris (Jack Black) and Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson)
question: What does the film include?, answer: birding | question: Who stars in "The Big Year"?, answer: Stu Preissler (Steve Martin), Brad Harris (Jack Black) and Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson)