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Paulie
> General Information Paulie is a 1998 movie about the adventures of a talking bird. Jay Mohr performs the voice of Paulie, and also plays an on-screen character in the movie. Paulie is rated PG, was originally available on VHS, and is currently available on DVD. The running time for Paulie is one hour and thirty-one minutes.
Misha Vilyenkov (Tony Shalhoub), a Russian emigrant living in America, gets a job as a janitor at an animal behavior testing lab. After being shown around the building by Virgil the janitor (Bill Cobbs), Misha encounters a bird (a blue-crowned conure) in a cage in the basement. One night, Misha is waxing the floors of the building when he hears somebody gently singing in the basement. Misha investigates and is astonished to discover it is the bird who is singing. When the bird discovers Misha investigating the singing, the bird, using perfect English, is startled and yells at Misha to get out. When Misha tells the scientists at the lab about the incident, the bird will not talk and Misha is gently scolded for wasting their time. Misha is interested in the bird's history, and later persuades the bird to share his experiences after offering the bird some mango. The bird then introduces himself as Paulie. Misha and Paulie realize that they both share the same desire to have someone to talk to, thus Paulie tells his story. Paulie's first owner, as Paulie tells Misha, was a little girl named Marie (Hallie Kate Eisenberg), who was a stutterer. Paulie was given to Marie when Paulie was just a baby bird, as a present from Marie's grandfather (Hal Robinson). As Marie learns to speak, so does Paulie, and Paulie learns well, understanding the meaning of words and learning to construct complex sentences. Marie's father (Matt Craven), just returned from the Vietnam War, 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, Paulie is taken away by Marie's parents. Paulie is passed from one owner to another, spending time as a window display at Bloomingdales, as a model for a brochure, and as an assistant to a magician. Finally, Paulie ends up in a New York City-area pawn shop run by Artie (Buddy Hackett). The pawn shop is also a hangout for a small-time con artist named Benny (Jay Mohr). When an aging artist named Ivy (Gena Rowlands) visits the pawn shop, she buys Paulie. Ivy, at Paulie's urging, takes Paulie back to Marie's house, but discovers that Marie and her family have moved to Los Angeles. Ivy agrees to take Paulie across country to find Marie, and the two set off in Ivy's RV. Sadly, along the way, Ivy loses her sight and Paulie decides to stay and take care of her. The two settle in an RV park. Eventually Ivy passes away. Paulie departs, having finally learned to fly, and continues his journey to find Marie. Along the way, Paulie stops at the Grand Canyon to see the sun come up, something that Ivy had always wanted to do but was never able to. Paulie arrives in eastern Los Angeles, and comes across a group of performing parrots owned by Ignacio (Cheech Marin). Among Ignacio's parrots is a female parrot named Lupe (voice of Tia Texada). Soon, Ignacio and Paulie become fast friends. Paulie, along with Lupe and the other parrots, perform at Ignacio's taco stand which brings about an increase of business for the taco stand. However, Benny (Jay Mohr) has also come to Los Angeles, and soon stumbles across Paulie and the performing parrots. Paulie is then kidnapped by Benny who engineers a police raid on Ignacio's property as a diversion. Paulie tells of his desire to find Marie. Benny points out that finding Marie will require a private detective, which will cost a lot of money. Soon, Benny manages to talk Paulie into a life of crime, teaching Paulie how to steal $20 bills from ATMs using other people's credit cards. However, Benny's girlfriend, Ruby (Tia Texada), wants more money, and Paulie points out he knows how to tell fake jewerly from real jewerly thanks to his time at the pawn shop. In a botched jewel theft, Paulie flies down through the chimney of a house, but is trapped inside, and abandoned by Benny and Ruby. Paulie is then brought to the animal behavior testing lab, where scientists there are stunned by his intelligence. They put Paulie through several tests to test his knowledge and plan to showcase him to mass groups of people. He is persuaded to endure more and more testing, and is promised by Dr. Reingold (Bruce Davison) that he will be reunited with Marie when the testing is complete. Paulie overhears Reingold on the phone saying that Reingold has discovered Marie's location, but that Reingold has no intention of letting Paulie go. Now that Paulie has discovered that Reingold has lied to him, Paulie refuses to cooperate with anymore tests, and in the process embarasses Reingold and the lab's personnel by acting like a normal bird in front of a group of visiting scientists. As punishment, Paulie is imprisoned in the basement by Reingold. Angered at the lab for taking advantage of Paulie, Misha helps Paulie and various other animals escape from the lab. During the escape from the lab, Misha found Marie's new address on a piece of paper in Reingold's office. Soon, Misha and Paulie arrive at the address. The two see a little girl playing out in the yard, and both assume it is Marie. Upon getting closer, Paulie discovers the girl is not Marie. As the girl runs in the house, Paulie is disappointed that once again he has not found Marie. Suddently, a woman about 30 years old (Trini Alvarado) steps out the door and claims to be Marie. Paulie dosen't believe her, and the only way Marie is able to convince him is to sing a song the two remember from Marie's childhood. Paulie joyfully flies around for the first time in years, and lands on Marie's shoulder, while the little girl (Marie's neighbor) looks on. The film ends with Misha and Marie going inside Marie's house with Paulie. From some of what Paulie says it is clear he is trying to set the two up as a couple.
IMDB Paulie page
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