Paramount | 2008 | 98 mins. | Rated R
Though Paramount agreed to distribute the 2008 comedic drama Pretty Bird, the studio clearly didn’t have much faith in the film as they screened it at Sundance and then shelved it for two years, finally releasing it directly to video. To cut their losses, the studio included no special features on the DVD and released no Blu-ray edition. Unfortunately, the film probably deserved such an unceremonious life. The bigger question is why Paramount didn’t see that Little Bird had almost no chance for success from the beginning. Maybe they felt a film that included Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti, and Kristin Wiig could help the film find a mainstream audience.
In addition to his role as Mark Brendanawicz on Parks and Recreation, Paul Schneider is well known for his roles in films such as Lars and the Real Girl, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. He made his directorial debut (he also wrote the screenplay) with Pretty Bird, based on the book The Rocketbelt Caper: A True Tale of Invention, Obsession and Murder by Paul Brown. The film centers on an entrepreneur who recruits his friends to help him create a rocket-powered belt.
According to the films prologue, Bell Aeronautics, with the backing of the U.S. Military, developed a “rocket belt” back in the 1950’s. However, the Military withdrew their support when they deemed the device impractical. Nevertheless, the rocket belt has continued to motivate inventors and business people over the years. “Though inspired by real events, this story is a work of fiction.”
Curtis Prentiss (Crudup) is a fast talking entrepreneur who enlists an old friend, Kenny Owenby (David Hornsby), who owns a mattress company and can provide a good deal of the money. Prentiss also calls upon Rick Honeycutt (Giamatti) an out-of-work aerospace engineer to build the rocket belt. They raise the money and get to work. Once success lies within reach, their collaboration turns sour. Prentiss is the perfect role for Billy Crudup, a chance to put his smart aleck personality, ability to charm the ladies and frat boy good lucks to good use. However, after awhile, his loser empty-headed sputtering becomes annoying.
Kristen Wiig plays Owenby’s assistant manager, but it’s such a small role it hardly matters. The film basically wastes Ms. Wiig on a throwaway character that becomes less significant as the movie goes on (although she does have the film’s best line: When Prestiss asks her what movie most changed her life, she answers The Exorcist).
It’s perhaps predictable that all three men start fighting amongst themselves, but the bizarre turn the film takes near the end is over the top. I felt it came out of nowhere and effectively ruined any positive merits Pretty Bird may have had. In the end though, the film is not funny, it’s not tense, it’s not stimulating, and it’s not moving. It has no real point of view, and as such makes it hard for the audience to sympathize with the characters.
Paramount video engineers used an anamorphic transfer to reproduce the film on disc in its native aspect ratio, 1.85:1. The results are solid: deep color; appropriately strong black levels to set off the hues; and decent object delineation for a standard-definition DVD. A noticeable amount of natural film grain accompanies the movie, too, especially evident during outdoor shots, giving the image a slightly rough texture.
The first thing one notices about the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is the excellent stereo spread, very wide across the front channels. From time to time we also hear the surround channels kick in with the occasional voice or peal of distant thunder, yet these times are few and far between. However, this is a dialogue-driven film. To that end, the all-important midrange provides a warm, smooth, realistic response, with the bass becoming apparent whenever necessary.
The disc includes English as the only spoken language, and English subtitles.
As I mentioned earlier, there are no special features.
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