What’s this all about?
Birdy tells the story of two young men, Al (Nicolas Cage), who enjoys female breasts, and Birdy (Matthew Modine), who doesn’t. They both go to Vietnam, although to be honest, this doesn’t seem to have much impact beyond forcing Al to wear bandages on his face for pretty much the entire movie, and ensuring that Birdy’s doctors are all technically Majors. None of them is Frank Burns.
Who is Nick in this one?
Nick plays “Al Columbato,” a relatively normal young man, growing up in 1950-60’s Philadelphia. The character is meant to be in High School for most of the film. Cage was about 20 when this was filmed, which creates some awkward scenes, like the one in which he’s playing baseball with what appear to be a bunch of ten-year-olds. He has awful parents, and kind of a stupid little brother, but he does all right with the ladies.
Who else is in this one?
Matthew Modine plays the titular role. He’s a crazy person who wants to be able to fly, or become a bird, or to have sex with birds. What he wants isn’t entirely clear, but he did not enjoy Vietnam, and he unwisely jumps off of a lot of things (a fuel depot, a garbage dump, the roof of a hospital) in various attempts to fly.
He spends a lot of time naked in and around bird cages, and has at least one wet dream thinking about a particularly attractive canary.
Did you see that?
In one scene, Al and Birdy break out of a U.S. Army mental hospital. Nick fairly easily shakes off the two Orderlies that try to stop them. Nick then pauses, takes careful aim, and kicks one of them right in the nuts, for seemingly no reason. Having seen several Nicolas Cage movies recently, I know exactly how the Orderly feels. -Michael
The wet dream. That was just stupid. -Sarah
What were Nick’s best parts?
Nick gets a couple of chances to scream into the void in Birdie, which are well used. I think the scene in which Birdie and Al, both wearing homemade pigeon suits, stalk pigeons at the top of a fuel depot really stands out. Al’s panic as Birdie prepares to “fly” to safety is palpable, and suits the scene perfectly. -Michael
I agree. It is particularly hard to pick the best and worst scenes as all of them are fairly equal. -Sarah
What were Nick’s worst parts?
As mentioned before, there are several scenes in which a clearly adult Nicolas Cage is playing a high school kid. These are all pretty bad, but my least favorite was the scene immediately following Birdy’s “flight” from the fuel depot, in which Nick, wearing kid’s clothes gleefully reads the newspaper accounting of Birdy’s injuries, while Birdy’s parents dismantle and burn the aviary where Al and Birdy have been raising pigeons. The scene just doesn’t feel necessary, and Birdy’s parents seem openly hostile to Al throughout the film, so his presence/behavior here feels extra weird. -Michael
I feel the worst bit for me was the flashback scenes to what happened to his face in Vietnam. It had the feel of a scene done fast and thrown in, but should have just been left out. – Sarah
How was the movie?
This is another in the string of perplexingly well-made period dramas from the 80’s that just aren’t very good. Cage is fine in this. Modine is actually quite good. Many of the scenes are extremely well executed.
None of that can counter the fact that this is a story about a weird guy who has unexplained and irrational fantasies about birds. This leads him to some irrational, self-defeating behaviors. When he and his only friend are sent to Vietnam, it doesn’t improve things.
Then, at the movie’s “climax” we’re given a Michigan J. Frog gag (Modine is going to be shipped off to a mental asylum if he doesn’t start responding to stimuli. He starts talking clearly and sensibly, but when the doctor who determines his fate enters the room, he again clams up, because he “didn’t have anything to say to him.”)
Then, we watch as Birdie dramatically leaps off of the hospital roof in his third or fourth attempt to fly. We see him plummet out of frame, only to learn that he has simply jumped to a lower roof below. If that final scene were the payoff to a 5 minute gag, it would have been funny. At the end of this 2 hour, non-comedic film, it just feels like a kick in the pants. -Michael
I actually enjoyed the ending. It was absurd and funny. Definitely the biggest laugh of the film. But the film set a very low bar. It was well acted, and directed, but poorly written. There just was no real story. It was pointless. -Sarah
Yeah, but did you like it?
Nope. This is not a good movie. It isn’t the worst Nicholas Cage movie, but it’s not worth watching, in my opinion. -Michael
Nope. I do not recommend it. – Sarah
Where can I watch it?
You can rent it on Amazon Prime, but you shouldn’t.
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