S-l-o-o-o-w paced romantic comedy. One keeps hoping for it to get better, or at least funnier, but it never does. This same clever story, with this same cast, could have been funny and entertaining, if only it had had better planning, writing, continuity, and direction. But the timing is off, many of the scenes are awkward, the minor characters are undeveloped, and the three main characters seem to change personality, appearance, and accent pretty much randomly from scene to scene. Plus the sub-plot involving cocaine was gratuitously ugly and irrelevant to the rest of the story, and made it very difficult to sympathize with Hurt's character. If you do rent Rare Birds on DVD, don't miss the theatrical trailer. It shows how the whole movie should have been handled. 4/10
Review of Rare Birds
