Rocket packs. Ever since they showed up in movies and sci-fi, practically everyone and their mom has wanted one. When this movie first started, I was very intrigued about the possibility of a greasy marketing man, a rocket scientist, and a mattress salesman getting together and making a dream a reality. Yet as “Pretty Bird” went on, all dreams and hopes of this movie being great crashed and burned.
Curtis Prentiss (Billy Crudup) is a dreamer who enlists his mattress salesman buddy Kenny (David Hornsby) to drop a large investment in his most recent business venture, a rocket pack. Prentiss then hires an aero space engineer (Paul Giamatti) to design it and slowly starts to swindle it away from everyone else.
The first part of this film is excellent, in particular a sex scene between Giamatti and his wife that is absolute comedic gold. Then the second half of the film runs straight into the ground, and things just get ridiculous.
Crudup is great as this real slime-ball character, yet I could only take so much of his backsliding without any true consequences. I don’t understand why Crudup’s character doesn’t have a true turning point. He is really the same character the entire way through and there is no justice for his actions.
If Paul Giamatti was used more, maybe this film wouldn’t have been so bad. Even if this film is based on true events like it is said in the beginning, maybe it could have been toned a bit more fluidly for an actual movie, since this just disintegrates way too quickly.
