X
- 1990
- PG-13
- 1 h 50 m
- 1990
- PG-13
- 1 h 50 m
Summary An old flame discovers her ex-boyfriend from the past is a relocated FBI informant out to stop the bad guys.
Directed By: John Badham
Written By: Louis Venosta, Eric Lerner, David Seltzer
- 1990
- PG-13
- 1 h 50 m
- 1990
- PG-13
- 1 h 50 m
Bird on a Wire
36
5.4
Where to Watch
Summary An old flame discovers her ex-boyfriend from the past is a relocated FBI informant out to stop the bad guys.
Directed By: John Badham
Written By: Louis Venosta, Eric Lerner, David Seltzer
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
36
11% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
47% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
42% Negative
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
36
11% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
47% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
42% Negative
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
Bird on a Wire is pedal-to-the-metal moviemaking by the numbers. What it's got going for it is that Goldie Hawn is cute and Mel Gibson is cuter as they struggle to mate screwball comedy to a chase thriller. The pleasant surprise is that Gibson has a flair for light comedy and the timing to bring off double-takes. It's a relief, too, because little else in Bird on a Wire is fresh. [18 May 1990, p.77p]
Moves along quite entertainingly for a while and then begins to get swallowed up by its own high (and high-tech) concepts. By the end, what had been a rather amusing, zany chase comedy starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn has turned into a bizarre and totally ridiculous free-for-all in a zoo, with crocodiles slithering and tigers roaring and piranhas chewing up people. [18 May 1990, p.3F]
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 User Ratings
5.4
45% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
25% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
30% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 User Ratings
5.4
45% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
25% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
30% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Screwball romance, action picture. Summer movie.
Within the first half-hour, we've met the baddies (led by a taciturn Carradine), heard Rick and Marianne's teasing banter, and experienced the thrills of a shootout and car chase. As for what follows, this drearily repetitious film offers more of the same with variations in backdrop, all directed in perfunctory fashion by Badham. It does have a nice '60s soundtrack; shame about the rest.
Cynical, over-hyped and enthusiastically brainless, Bird on a Wire demonstrates the programmed, soul-less bankruptcy of the Hollywood hit-making system in the early 1990s. [18 May 1990, p.28]
Except for some climactic gunplay in a zoo that looks suspiciously like a set, every plot thread is a retread - 500 layers deep. [18 May 1990, p.4D]
Big, dull, and noisy, this comedy-romance has chases galore, but its comedy is flat and its romance is grating and graceless.
