"The Starling" gentle and benign but should've lost the bird

The Starling (2021)

The title of “The Starling,” as in the species of bird, does not exactly sound like a drama about grief, but here we are. When it is being just that, the film can be gentle and benign, but the titular starling might be the least interesting part. In moments, director Theodore Melfi (2016's "Hidden Figures") does get the balance of light and heavy right, but perhaps with an overhaul on the script by first-timer Matt Harris, there never needed to be a bird in the first place. It could depend on one’s mood, level of cynicism, and threshold for treacly corn, or “The Starling” may ultimately confuse being twee and well-meaning over thoughtful and worthwhile. 

Melissa McCarthy cannot help but be wonderful in her tightrope lead performance as Lilly Maynard, a married woman reeling from the sudden death of her baby girl. She keeps busy, working as a grocery store manager when she isn't making weekly commutes to visit her husband, Jack (Chris O’Dowd), an art teacher who suffered a breakdown and has voluntarily checked into a psychiatric health facility. Lilly wishes she and her husband could directly talk about their daughter, but she’s on her own. Constantly reminded of their loss at home, Lilly begins to make a few changes. Selling their daughter’s crib and other furniture, as well as cleaning up the garden in their front yard, is her way of ridding herself from the anger phase of the grieving process. Frustration kicks in, though, when a very territorial starling has built a nest in Lilly’s yard and won’t fly away. When she takes the advice of seeing Dr. Larry Fine (Kevin Kline), a therapist-turned-veterinarian, things begin to look up.

Despite this screenplay kicking around since 2005 on the Black List of well-liked, not-yet-produced screenplays, “The Starling” has an uneven way of telling its story. Sometimes, it trusts the viewer’s patience, waiting for character information to come organically, and other times, director Theodore Melfi’s cloying over-reliance on hopeful country-folk songs and visual metaphors (i.e. a baby sock, the garden, Hostess SnoBalls snack cakes) puts a heavy hand on things. Just wait until the starling gets injured and then, just like Lilly, spreads its wings and flies again. Honestly, most of the story feels like it’s about Lilly trying to keep a pesky bird out of her garden, whether by killing it or spooking it with an owl statue, rather than it is about Lilly confronting her feelings about her and Jack’s loss. But besides being about bereavement, the film wants to have its pratfalls, too. The titular starling swoops down and knocks Lilly down to the ground more than once, giving her a cut on her forehead and even making her lose her balance on a ladder. As funny as Melissa McCarthy can be at falling on her face (and in a football helmet, no less), these scenes almost feel like they’re there to appease a broader audience that doesn’t want anything too depressing. 

Melissa McCarthy and a reliably likable Kevin Kline carry the material, as just watching these two actors naturally bounce off one another is the film's biggest pleasure. McCarthy and Chris O’Dowd do also find moments of heartbreaking truth as a couple in need of reconnecting. Everyone is playing this in earnest, and while one would never complain about seeing Timothy Olyphant, Daveed Diggs, Loretta Devine, and Skyler Gisondo, very few of them make enough of an impression as bit players with one-note quirks or even less than that. As much as one doesn’t want to go too hard on a movie like “The Starling,” it doesn’t quite come together to be as wise, profound, and emotionally satisfying as intended. Some of it feels earned, thanks to the actors, and the rest of it is just hokey and facile, like an acquisition from the Hallmark Channel. Maybe there’s a reason not every Black List screenplay makes for a good movie.

Grade: C

Netflix released “The Starling” (104 min.) in select theaters on September 17, 2021, followed by a streaming release on September 24, 2021.