This bird's not worth watching.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Oct 2, 2021

The dialogue lacks the saltiness that made St. Vincent work so well, and the many pauses in the action allow plenty of opportunity for mawkishness to seep in. While McCarthy is certainly the best thing in it, she does have her limits.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 30, 2021

It just doesn't get the mix quite right -- you can get from there to here.

Full Review | Sep 29, 2021

Everything in this film is a symbol... It feels like a waste.

Full Review | Sep 29, 2021

If you're tempted to add it to your queue, McCarthy's open-faced performance is reason enough to give it your time, even if nearly everything surrounding her feels unworthy.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 24, 2021

The Starling has come out the other side an utterly bizarre, tonal misfire that fumbles through several ideas before implying that it's perfectly OK to berate the suicidal for being so suicidal.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 23, 2021

"The Starling" isn'texactly subtle- its quirks are exacerbated by a pushy soundtrack- but there is warmth and truth in its performances, particularly McCarthy and O'Dowd.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Sep 23, 2021

Blatant product placement, unconvincing bird effects and awful soundtrack selections all undermine a potentially wrenching, difficult premise with utter bogusness.

Full Review | Sep 23, 2021

A mawkish melodrama...the whole thing felt unearned.

Full Review | Sep 21, 2021

The film's greatest downfall resides in its inability to form a single coherent thought. It is a real shame as there was great potential here, sadly squandered on a series of risibly weak metaphor-heavy ideas.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 17, 2021

The enjoyment of watching this modest melodrama is implicitly connected to a giddy acknowledgement that there remains a bold class of film-maker willing to blow $20 million on a low-key tale of grief for grown-ups.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 16, 2021

McCarthy is loyal to her collaborators, which is an admirable trait in a person but sometimes lands her in stinkers like this one. Now they're even, and she can move on.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Sep 16, 2021

Screenwriter Matt Harris' overreliance on whimsy and a seemingly desperate need to tug at our hearts - instead of our minds - undercuts the film's more valid situations and sentiments.

Full Review | Sep 16, 2021

The fast-forward button was made for "The Starling."

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Sep 15, 2021

In its painful straining to be upbeat, this movie jettisons anything real.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 14, 2021

Quoth the raven: "Nevermore!"

Full Review | Sep 14, 2021

Theodore Melfi's The Starling expends so much energy trying to tug at your heartstrings that it never bothers to develop a pulse of its own.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 13, 2021

"The Starling's" emotional arcs are as narratively complete as they are psychologically dashed-off.

Full Review | Sep 12, 2021

With a predictable trajectory and cringeworthy metaphors, The Starling is so slushily sentimental it makes the typical tearjerker look like a noir.

Full Review | Sep 12, 2021

It is... something few contemporary films dare to be: both satisfying and self-contained.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Sep 12, 2021