The movie roams through its numerous picturesque locations with a pleasant enough grace, while Frankel adds just enough idiosyncratic musical and visual quirks to keep things interesting.

It's theoretically possible for laughs to be gouged out of this scenario, but you won't find them here: every move, every joke, every emotion is heaved lumberingly into place.

The Big Year is as glossy and inert as Martin's face, which these days seems to require more foundation than the Burj Khalifa.

All three actors play their usual stock characters here.