Rare Birds (2001)

At least since The Accidental Tourist, William Hurt seems to excel at playing the distracted male who responds to the gravitational pull of a woman (esp. if she's the closest heavenly body). In Rare Birds, he is a chef and restaurateur whose establishment is situated on the coastal boondocks of Newfoundland. His wife has moved to Washington D.C., divorce seems imminent (not that he would take any action to remedy the situation), and the restaurant is so empty that he's going to have to sell it. His closest neighbor and friend (played by Andy Jones) is an inventor with several impressive projects and a few paranoid theories in the works; he drums up a plan to call in a false sighting of a rare bird so that the restaurant will grow flush with clientele. The plan succeeds but guilt works in mysterious ways. Meanwhile, the beautiful vision that is Molly Parker serves as restaurant hostess and a developing love interest. (Some kvetch about the age difference between Hurt and Parker but to me that is imposing the real world on the fictional world: Hurt does not look that old, their connection has more to do with intellect than chronology, and besides, what man would refuse to be with Parker?) Rare Birds plays the "real world" of the restaurant and culinary arts against the "intellectual world" of inventions and conspiracies, blending one into another in a giant furtive salad. Rare Birds is full of understated fun, whimsy, and quirkiness. It turns out I like it a great deal. 4.5 stars.