 |   Format : AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC Publisher : Paramount Company : Paramount List Price: Our Price: $4.89 You Save: $18.09 (79%) Used Price : $3.07 |
Product Description
Based on a true story, this comic tale of three would-be entrepreneurs set out to invent a rocket belt. The venturesome partnership soon takes an unhealthy toll as their mismatched personalities clash and some unexpected success lead to retaliations and kidnapping in this parable of American dreams and delusions.SimilarProduct
Customer reviews
A thoroughly engaging human saga 
by .. Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
A Sundance Dramatic Grand Jury Prize nominee, Pretty Bird is an eyebrow-raising adventure of the lengths to which ordinary Americans may go to pursue their extraordinary dreams. When three unusual inventors - a charming entrepreneur, a compassionate mattress store proprietor, and a rocket scientist with a bleak worldview - team up to create a rocket belt company, the put everything they have on the line in hope of finding success. Pretty Bird blends skewed comedy, genuine warmth, and the drive to see the results of one's labor made real into a thoroughly engaging human saga. Highly recommended. 98 minutes, widescreen, rated R for language and a scene of sexuality.
Dark, funny Paul G 
by .. Diverseeko ()
I can see why some may have gave this movie low marks. But it is undeniably funny. It is dark with classic Paul G elements. I usually watch extremely serious and depressing movies. When I do watch comedies they are usually in line with Woody Allen, Coen brothers, Curb your enthusiasm. If you like comedies in that sense, I think you will enjoy this one. It is not American Splender or Sideways Paul G, but nonetheless - enjoyable.
No one will doubt what you do... 
by .. Rev. E. A. Hernandez ()
Ah, first reviewer. That has only happened to me twice before over the course of 120 film critiques (and counting).
Pity it had to be this film.
I missed this in its maiden year (2008), though I can't be sure it was released in theaters. I have to make an educated guess and say it was theatrically released. It would have been declared the biggest box office rip-off of all time...but I never heard that either. I recall seeing on the news a man flying a jetpack over the Swiss Alps. It was real, and it was cool. That popped into my mind as I suffered this film.
This film set in the present day purports to be a story about the building and testing of a jetpack. It even begins with a written 'history', describing Bell Labs' perfection of a working prototype and the military's rejection of it. It then goes on to say that hasn't stopped inventors from working on jetpacks (which they keep calling a "belt").
PRETTY BIRD proclaims itself to be based on true events. It then goes on to be the dumbest thing I have ever seen. The Three Stooges got nothin' on this revolting trio of Paul Giamatti (I expected him to know better--he starred and produced), Billy Crudup, and a poor, attractive dope called David Hornsby (AVPR: ALIENS VS. PREDATOR - REQUIEM, his only other film role).
Crudup plays Curtiss, the ever-irritating conman/entrepreneur who always seems to get people to do exactly what he wants. Now I knew better than to expect anything from Crudup except a slight migraine, but I couldn't miss a Paul Giamatti movie. I love him, no matter what the critics say.
Giamatti is Rick, the pissed-off engineer who has crashed after a 20-year career as a "rocket scientist". After securing money and a devoted gay love-beam from his pal Kenny (David Hornsby), Curtiss enlists Rick to build a jetpack. It's a start-up company that will, in future, make jetpacks...presumably.
This film is so dumb that I can't do anything except tell what transpires. Rick successfully builds a working jetpack, they test it, Kenny loses his shirt and his mattress business, and Curtiss ends up stealing the jetpack. Rick goes nuts, first trying to sue Curtiss then planning to shoot him. Eventually he has Curtiss kidnapped, but Curtiss, who walks away from this situation, NEVER tells anyone what he did with the pack or why he did it. There seems to be some indication that Curtiss, who is obviously the most mentally disturbed of the three, simply wanted the jetpack invented so he could fly.
It is stupid. It is a waste of time and treasure. It is a disgraceful production for Giamatti, his first time out producing a real movie. If you can call this "real". It has its moments and they are good; the acting is solid and Giamatti is quite brilliant. That is what is most angering: the waste. This film is NOT: a comedy in any sense; a mystery; a thriller; a murder tale; a conspiracy film; hell, it's only a film because, well, it's on film!
I'd suggest getting ROCKET MAN, PRIMER or THE BOOK OF ELI, which have in common with PRETTY BIRD a certain cinematic desolation, a minimalism that should not be tried too often. PRETTY BIRD should not have been tried at all. (Incidentally, PRETTY BIRD brought to mind PRIMER because there are the creators of a machine, the machine is hijacked, there is a storage unit invovled, and that is about it.)
The two stars are for Giamatti and for him alone...though he really should have known better.