Pretty Bird

For the album by Kathy Mattea, see Pretty Bird (album).

Pretty Bird is a 2008 American comedy film. It competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival^[1] and was released on DVD in the United States on June 29, 2010.

Pretty Bird
Directed by	Paul Schneider
Written by	Paul Schneider
Starring	Billy Crudup Paul Giamatti Kristen Wiig David Hornsby Garret Dillahunt Denis O'Hare
Cinematography	Igor Martinovic
Edited by	Annette Davey
Music by	Wim Mertens
Production company	Sound Pictures
Release date	January 20, 2008 (2008-01-20) (Sundance)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3.75 million

Plot

A sweet-natured guy enlists his best friend, and an engineer who lost his job and has an attitude problem, to help him create and market his idea for a rocket-powered belt. The entrepreneur never loses his confidence the idea will work even though he runs into problems that include finding investors and disagreements with his engineer.

Cast

• Billy Crudup as Curtis Prentiss
• Paul Giamatti as Rick Honeycutt
• David Hornsby as Kenny Owenby
• Kristen Wiig as Mandy Riddle
• Elizabeth Marvel as Tonya Honeycutt
• Denis O'Hare as Chuck Stutters
• Garret Dillahunt as Carson Thrash
• James Wetzel as Dennis
• Anna Camp as Becca French
• Nate Mooney as Randy Pendler
• Aasif Mandvi as Ted the Banker
• Adam LeFevre as Phil the Neighbor
• Lennon Parham as Woman with Beef

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 20% based on reviews from 5 critics.^[2]

Robert Koehler of Variety criticized the film as being "overly calculated" and predictable, noting that the only bright spot in the film was its soundtrack.^[3] Duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter wrote ""Pretty Bird flaps one comic wing and one dramatic wing, but this slight-framed bird never soars and ultimately crashes under the weight of its excessive thematic ballast".^[4]