Review of Pretty Bird (2008) by Riley H — 13 May 2011

In "Pretty Bird," Curtis(Billy Crudup) has an idea. So, he goes to his best friend Kenny(David Hornsby) who has a successful mattress business and therefore the necessary capital. The next step is an aerospace engineer, and somehow without alerting several government agencies, he contacts Rick(Paul Giamatti), very much out of work and badly in need of something to occupy his time. Together they form Fantastic Tech where Curtis plans to build personal jet packs from blueprints found at the local library, inspired by the movie "Thunderball.".

In the end, this is a rambling and offbeat movie that holds together as well as it does due to the always excellent work from Crudup and Giamatti. A lot of "Pretty Bird" has to do with people who have found only disappointment in life, just as the future is not the one we all imagined, especially with no flying cars.(Although, there is one in "The Man with the Golden Gun.") Kenny became a success but not by following his dream while Curtis and Rick are still going in their original directions at different speeds, as one is practical while the other one has his head always in the clouds. And on the surface, it might seem strange to be inspired to build something from a James Bond movie but I think I remember hearing about the navy utilizing the idea of the underwater breathers also from "Thunderball," so who knows?