Duck (2005)

50% of critics liked it
(18 reviews)
49% of users liked it
(1,532 ratings)

An aging societal outcast and a motherless duck set out to find shelter and meaning in a future where people are separated by as many degrees as they are connected. The year is 2009, and the last public park in Los Angeles has been closed to the public. The city is a desert, and dispossessed widower… More An aging societal outcast and a motherless duck set out to find shelter and meaning in a future where people are separated by as many degrees as they are connected. The year is 2009, and the last public park in Los Angeles has been closed to the public. The city is a desert, and dispossessed widower Arthur Pratt (Philip Baker Hall) has outlived his usefulness. A retired history professor who spent all of his savings caring for his beloved late wife, Arthur sets out to the park where his son and dearly departed are buried to pay his final respects before ending his own life. Arthur's grim westward march hits an unexpected hitch, however, when an orphaned duckling that has recently cheated death adopts the homeless septuagenarian as a surrogate mother figure. Once again displaced when their park becomes a landfill and their pond is drained, the unlikely pair embarks on a Sisyphean journey to find shelter and meaning in a world where their lives seem to have little value. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 38 min.
Directed By: Nicole Bettauer
Written By: Nic Bettauer
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: Mar 11, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Jul 22, 2008
Studio: Right Brained Releasing

Critic Reviews

Desson Thomson, Washington Post
We weren't particularly affected by Arthur's encounters with various strangers along the way. We think we know why: For the most part, we found ourselves watching a grown actor pretend to have a special connection. With a duck.
Mark Feeney, Boston Globe
Writer-director Nic Bettauer can't decide whether to play Duck for tears or laughs.
Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
Much of the journey becomes redundant, and the film likely would have been more effective as a 20-minute short.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
There isn't much to it, but this odd little road movie from writer-director Nic Bettauer does boast a sincere charm, and fine performances from its two leading actors.
Lisa Nesselson, Variety
Feature debut by scripter-helmer Nic Bettauer is a small, affecting road movie peopled with sharp vignettes.
Andrea Chase, Killer Movie Reviews
Is it possible for humans to have this sort of chemistry with a bird? Hall makes it seem not only possible, but reasonable.
Kam Williams, Mount Desert Islander
A geezer and his pet pal performing random acts of kindness till they find salvation at the ocean shore.
Rory L. Aronsky, Film Threat
...a thoughtful look at who we might be and what we can be, with just a little tenderness that remains embedded in the heart for a long time after.
Ross Anthony, Hollywood Report Card
Hosts a promising premise and some pretty interesting dialogue in spurts. But as the tail waddles across Los Angeles the originally agile storytelling suffers some bumps.
Frank Lovece, Film Journal International
A series of stagy vignettes that never builds to a point.
Susan Granger, www.susangranger.com
Whimsical, quirky, strangely endearing road movie - and certainly unique!
Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve
The movie is about as interesting as a duck would be as a pet.
Evan Henerson, Los Angeles Daily News
Possessed of one of the most hangdog faces in Hollywood, Hall meshes expertly with the movie's hopeful sadness. That we watch him toting a live duck around without once losing his dignity -- or breaking out in laughter -- has to count for something.
Kam Williams, Denver Urban Spectrum
Philip Baker Hall throws himself into the role ever so convincingly opposite his anthropomorphized companion in a manner reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart with his imaginary 6-foot tall rabbit in Harvey, and Tom Hanks with Wilson the volleyball in Cast Away.
Ted Murphy, Murphy's Movie Reviews
Buried somewhere in this messy, strange and occasionally affecting film is an interesting idea -- perhaps even a good one. But what's on screen in DUCK also veers into territory that is precious and even boring.
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
There are precedents for this kind of old-coot-and-adorable-pet cinema, but the director, a USC film grad, demonstrates little in the way of keenness or even sentimentality.
Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly
The filmmaker is good with actors, and in Hall, she has a lead with such innate authority that you can't take your eyes off him, even when he's manhandling flapping waterfowl.
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
The strangest movie to reach theaters in many moons, at least the strangest since Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Lizzy B

Dumb. Here's the thing, this was SUCH a good idea for a movie, and it was done SO wrong... the screenplay made no sense... he mentions WWII and Kilroy was here, then decides to name the Duck Joe... there were absolutely no transitions between scenes, the music was overly… More
Dumb. Here's the thing, this was SUCH a good idea for a movie, and it was done SO wrong... the screenplay made no sense... he mentions WWII and Kilroy was here, then decides to name the Duck Joe... there were absolutely no transitions between scenes, the music was overly distracting, and all the extras were terrible actors that just kept pulling away from the ultimate point of the movie... which I guess there were several of... also a bad idea... Started out strong, and then committed suicide within the first five minutes... This movie could have been great 50 years ago, as a cartoon, or as a high school senior's film project where the budget was ... a duck... to whom I give one star.

Cast

Philip Baker Hall
as Arthur Pratt
Bill Brochtrup
as Leopold
Amy Hill
as Pedicurist

Larry Cedar
as Mr. Janney
French Stewart
as Jumper
Bill Cobbs
as Norman

See full cast

Duck (2005)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Lizzy B

Cast

Photos

Trailers & Clips