Paulie is a 1998 film starring Tony Shalhoub, Gena Rowlands, Hallie Kate Eisenberg and Jay Mohr. It is about the adventures of a smart-talking bird who frequently finds himself in trouble. Jay Mohr performs the voice of Paulie, and also plays a minor on-screen character.
This film was rated PG by the MPAA for “Brief Mild Language”.
Plot
The film is a picaresque tale about an intelligent talking blue crown conure called Paulie and his long quest to return to his owner.
Misha Belenkoff (Tony Shalhoub), a Russian emigrant living in America, works as a janitor at an animal testing lab. There he encounters a blue-crowned conure which he hears at first singing in the basement, and is astonished when in perfect English it berates him for interrupting it. When he rushes to tell the scientists at the lab, the bird will not talk and he is scolded for wasting their time.
Misha is interested in the bird’s history, and later persuades him to share his experiences with pieces of mango after reading that Paulie’s species loves mango. Misha and Paulie both realize that they both share the same desire to have someone to talk to, thus Paulie tells his story. His first owner, as Paulie tells Misha, was a little girl named Marie (Hallie Kate Eisenberg, who was a stutterer. Paulie was given when just a baby bird, as a birthday present. As she learns to speak, so does he, and he learns well, understanding the meaning of words and learning to construct complex sentences.Marie’s father does not like the bird, particularly when Marie tells her parents that the bird can talk. After a dramatic event in which Marie falls off the roof of her house in attempts to teach Paulie to fly, he is sold by her parents.
A major part of the plot is Paulie being passed from one owner to another, spending time as a window display at Bloomingdales, as a model for a brochure, as an assistant to a magician when finally, Paulie ends up in a pawn shop. Paulie is purchased there by an aging artist, Ivy (Gena Rowlands). She teaches him manners, and takes Paulie back to Marie’s house, but discovers that they have moved to Los Angeles. She befriends him and agrees to take him to find Marie, but loses her sight and passes away. Paulie departs, having finally learned to fly, and continues his journey.
In eastern Los Angeles, Paulie joins a group of performing parrots owned by Ignacio (Cheech Marin). Paulie is then kidnapped by Benny (Jay Mohr, who also voices Paulie), a thief who engineers a police raid on Ignacio’s property. Benny teaches Paulie how to steal money from ATMs using other people’s credit cards. In a botched jewel theft, Paulie flies down through the chimney of a house, but is trapped inside, and abandoned by Benny.
Paulie is then brought to the institute, where employees and scientists there are stunned by his intelligence. They put Paulie through several tests to test his knowledge and showcase him to mass groups of people. He is persuaded to endure more and more of this, and is promised that he will be reunited with Marie. Paulie discovers that the institute has lied to him, and refuses to cooperate with anymore tests, and embarasses the institute’s personnel, thus Paulie is imprisoned in the basement. Angered at the research institute for taking advantage of Paulie, Misha quits his job and helps Paulie and various other animals escape from the research institute. Misha finds Marie’s new address and takes Paulie there. Marie is now a beautiful woman, about 30 years old (Trini Alvarado). Paulie joyfully flies around for the first time in years, and lands on Marie’s shoulder.
The film ends with Misha and Marie entering inside her house with Paulie to catch up.
