The Peanut Butter Falcon

The Peanut Butter Falcon falls into that small categories of small low budget films every year that I happen to catch the trailer for while perusing through Youtube and actually end up seeing. I think I was like a lot of people that were charmed by the concept of the movie and when it showed up in the menu of the plane I was on, it seemed like a decent choice after seeing all the big budget films I've really been interested this year.

The Peanut Butter Falcon focuses on a young man with down syndrome named Zak (played by Zack Gottsagen). Zak lives in an assisted living home and is looked after by a social worker named Eleanor (played by Dakota Johnson) and dreams of becoming a professional wrestler as he watches old video tapes of his hero, Salt Water Redneck (played by Thomas Haden Church).

After escaping from the assisted living home, Zak finds an unemployed drifter down on his luck named Tyler (played by Shia LaBeouf). After some initial hesitation, the two actually connect really well and form a friendship in the fact that they're both sort of on the run.

Tyler agrees to take Zak to the training camp run by Salt Water Redneck, and the two start this Mark Twain-esc odyssey. Meanwhile, Eleanor is out looking for Zak, intending to take him back to the nursing home.

The main appeal of this movie is how kind spirited it is. You do feel the genuine friendship between Zak and Tyler and there is a really great philosophy imparted on how people treat the mentally challenged. The highlight is Tyler's viewpoint on treating Zak like a regular person and the contrast with others who at best treat him with kids gloves like Eleanor does, or treat him with contempt like others.

The great thing about the film is the environment. The two main characters have to avoid using traditional means of transportation, so they travel through cornfields and by makeshift boats. The result is that the audience is exposed to a lot of beautiful landscapes in North Carolina. I'm not very familiar with the area, but the movie portrays a southern culture that I don't think gets portrayed enough. If you've ever seen the show Bloodline, I would say that is the closest thing to the environment being portrayed in The Peanut Butter Falcon and I like it when new aesthetics can be utilized effectively like they do in The Peanut Butter Falcon.

One last thing that was really enjoyable about the film was the performances from the three characters with the most screen time. Zack Gottsagen actually has down syndrome, but he provides a really great performance, especially opposite Shia LaBeouf. The dynamic between the two only works if these two do a good job and they did. Dakota Johnson is also really good in it. I think Dakota Johnson is probably going to be the most accessible character for most people because while she is a very good character, she is the one that probably sees the most change from the start of the movie to the end. She eventually becomes a little bit more than an observer and arm candy for Shia LaBeouf, but I still enjoyed her performance, even if her character wasn't fleshed out as clearly as I would have hoped.

Now I think there are a couple of missteps with the film but nothing that absolutely ruins it. The movie clocks in just over 90 minutes and while I'm always for movies that are concise, I think I would have personally liked a little more. There's kind of a funny scene where Zak and Tyler run into a blind man who baptizes them pretty randomly. It's a funny odyssey-like interaction, one that doesn't really tie into the main story besides providing them transportation, but I wouldn't have minded more random encounters like this because I like these characters. I wouldn't have minded seeing them do more.

The other aspect of the film is kind of a criticism, but its more unnecessarily inserting rationalism into a film. There's an interesting exchange between Tyler and Eleanor where Tyler basically tells her that they're going to continue this journey no matter what. And because we've spent so much time with Tyler and Zak, we don't want their journey to end so we're supposed to side with Tyler. But if you didn't have that background, like Eleanor didn't have, all she'd see was a creepy dude that keeps on hitting hanging out with a half naked mentally challenged patient of hers. This is kind of part of why Eleanor isn't as strong of a character as I wish she would have been because we're supposed to just write her off as a naive college educated woman instead of a professional who is responding rationally to a weird situation. And then she falls for the gruff drifter because this is a movie.

Again, it doesn't destroy the quality of the film because I know that it's a movie there's supposed to be a suspension of disbelief in situations like that, but it is strange.

The movie also ends kind of strangely. Its kind of spoiler but they do make their way to the wrestling school and interact with Thomas Hayden Church's character.

It includes some odd characters, some kind of ridiculous moments, and a really rushed ending.

Again, it's not terrible, but the first act of this movie is a lot more polished than the third act because where the first and second act did a good job establishing the characters, their relationships, and saying something about the treatment of mentally challenged people, the third act kind of stumbles through it where it introduces the mean spirited people but in a very clunky and rushed way. So much that the movie just ends and it seemed like there was more but the movie ran out of money and just sped its way to an ending.

It's tough because I do like the movie and overall approach and message its trying to deliver. LaBeouf, Gottsagen, and Johnson give a great performance, and the movie is heart warming. But I feel like it could have been 15 minutes to a half hour longer and it would have fleshed out the movie out just a little more.

As it stands, The Peanut Butter Falcon is gonna make you feel good and sometimes that's all you need. Something about the trailer and some of the moments and content of the film makes it feel like it should be more than that in my opinion. I think there are a few things that could be improved to make the film more memorable, but again, you're not going to have a bad time at all if you watch this film.

Check it out if you get the chance and I challenge you to watch it without breaking a smile.

But those are my thoughts on The Peanut Butter Falcon. Are there films from 2019 I missed and should be prioritizing for 2020. Let me know! Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

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