Pretty Bird

Actor Paul Schneider turns his hand to directing, for this, his first and only time. With the big star pull (at least now) of Paul Giamatti and a premise along the lines of inventing rocket belts (I think they've been referred to as 'jet-packs' over here) and seen in Bond movie(s), you'd think this would be better known.

Or, at least available. I saw it on Film 4 and Radio Times online couldn't be bothered to give it a rating even and provided only the skimpiest of plot outlines. But it seems to be available via Amazon as region 1 DVD only, precluding the majority.

It started out OK, when it was vaguely predictable. Some guys (three) seem to phone each other up and suddenly meet and next thing they're moving into an industrial unit to test their invention. Apart from some interesting and nicely diverting fantasy sequences, it's a mess. You don't care for any of them, Giamatti shouts obscenities all the time and Billy Crudup looks uncomfortable. My mind lost interest and before long concentration had melted and I wanted it to end. I don't really know where the story went, if at all and the ending was vague and stupid. Apparently, there's kidnapping and betrayal when someone steals the only rocket belt in existence....

With bursts of inappropriate opera singing as background music, one could tell that Schneider is attempting satire and humour but that's completely smashed by an insensitive and heavy hand. It's no wonder that this one-time director realised his mistake and went straight back to acting!, while Giamatti must have shuffled it out of his CV.

My 2/10, rather than just one, is for some of the performances and I'm sure some people would find it endearing and no doubt, amusing and all that. But at nearly two hours it's just too long and any attempts to stay afloat whilst watching it is as likely as keeping those rocket belts in the air for any length of time. Disappointing

I have become a big fan of Paul Giamatti of late. To be fair, he was great in this as he always seems to be. All of the acting was very good, and for some time the movie was engaging and funny, but man did it fall apart in the last 1/3 or so. It is the worst movie I have seen in some time.

There were elements of humor and even suspense, but the story really didn't make any sense, and not in a cool quirky way either. Also the use of Kristin Wiig for such an insignificant role is a waste of her talent.

Don't bother with this one. Try Cold Souls for Giamattites and even Whip It for you Wiigies!

Though picked up for distribution by a major Hollywood studio, "Pretty Bird" didn't seem to have received much (if any) exposure in theaters, and it doesn't take long into watching it to figure out why. To be sure, the cast is talented and appealing, and there is nothing really wrong with the premise of the movie. But it is the actual execution that sinks things. The characters more often than not are somewhat thin; their motivations and other personality touches are murky. The tone is inconsistent; the movie can't decide whether it's a quirky comedy with dramatic touches, or a drama with comic touches. The plot elements are somewhat confusing at times; it seems that linking material that would have made things a lot clearer either wasn't filmed or was edited out. Also, the ending seems somewhat abrupt, as if director Paul Schneider was running out of money towards the end of shooting. In the end, while the movie is not aggressively bad, it is all the same very unsatisfying. But it may be of interest to independent filmmakers; if this movie could play at the Sundance film festival and somehow get nominated for a grand jury prize, there is hope for other independent filmmakers no matter how disappointing their movies may be.

This movie doesnt deserve only 12 reviews on Imdb, although "Pretty Bird" is best suited for a small arthouse audience, who can appreciate a quirky downer portrait of a born looser with big big ideas about making a rocket belt with which individual people can fly. Will he succeed or will he fail again? I have seen it several times already and although I am not rolling on the floor laughing I really dig the unique melancholic/comic looser spirit of this movie: failing miserably, yet doing so with total commitment.

This movie feels a bit uneven in the sense, that it isnt really funny, yet it isnt really dramatic either. It falls somewhat in between. And I like that quirkyness of not being able to place this movie under one particular label, but many people probably might say it is going nowhere, which isnt totally besides the point, because the leading character's life is actually going nowhere. But this looser has crafted his failing at EVERYTHING into a way of life, that is sad yet kinda funny and endearing as well. For me personally it has got the right balance between sad and funny, but for those who like to see a full on straight comedy I would advice to pass this movie by...

In the film, the main character states that geniuses always die alone. If that's true, whoever made this movie should be fine as there is no real substance to the film. Pretty Bird follows a group of three men who create a jet pack like invention called the rocket Belt. It's cool but also pretty useless as it can only fly for about 30 seconds. The rest of the film is devoted to showing how this idea ends up driving the three apart. It's not a bad premise even though it's been done in other films, like The Social Network. But what really drags the film down is that it doesn't ever really seem to know what it wants to be. It bounces between the three main characters, but you never really get a sense of what this movie is trying to do. So it ends up feeling unnecessary like its invention. Speaking of unnecessary, the film also awkwardly introduces Kristen Wiig only for her character to not go anywhere or do anything in the film. Anna camp has a very small role in this film as a character named Becca (which should make all the Pitch Perfect fans laugh;). Sadly Anna only has two scenes, and neither of them are important. All of this would make for an okay movie if it weren't so slow and draw-out and boring.