Bird-brained comedy misfire from director Robert Altman, admirably odd (after a fashion) but peculiar and off-putting. Bud Cort plays a strange young man who hopes to fly like a bird through the Houston Astrodome. The film is so overloaded with eccentric characters that it starts to creak from the weight about halfway through. The cinematography by Lamar Boren and Jordan Cronenweth is evocative, Shelley Duvall is a stitch in her debut as a tour guide, and Sally Kellerman looks every inch the glamorpuss as Cort's vision of a "mother bird" (imagine Altman or producer Lou Adler explaining that role to her!). As for Cort, he's a true original for the movies; not unlike, say, Michael J. Pollard, Cort manages to be geeky, wacky and inoffensive, a tough act to pull off. Altman obviously has great love for these screwballs, but the picture runs roughshod over its audience with no sympathy. The filmmaker can put together an eclectic cast (including everyone from Michael Murphy to Margaret Hamilton) like nobody else, but let Altman get fired up with misguided inspiration and he quickly spirals downward. A very generous ** from ****
Review of Brewster McCloud
