Review of The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) by Markhreviews — 12 Sep 2019

In their feature film debut, directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz didn’t make it easy on themselves. They cast a man with Down syndrome to portray a man with Down syndrome. They took on the baggage of Shia LeBoeuf. They cast Dakota Johnson in a role that didn’t involve handcuffs. And they hooked it all on a marginal story that owes much to Huckleberry Finn and moves at the laborious pace of a homemade raft on a slow-moving river. Happily, for the most part, they pull it off. Zac (Zack Gottsagen) is a Down syndrome man being warehoused by the state in a retirement home. With a little help from retiree Bruce Dern, Zac makes his escape, eventually meeting up with Tyler (Shia LeBoeuf), who is on the run for his own reasons. Eventually, they become friends and Tyler decides to help Zac achieve his life’s ambition – to train at the wrestling school of Salt Water Redneck, whose video Zac has watched incessantly. Discovered by Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), who is tasked with returning Zak to the retirement home, the trio eventually form an unlikely grouping determined to help Zak live out his dream by, wait for it, embarking on a homemade raft down a slow-moving river.

It’s the unpredictable elements that make this film worthwhile. Shia LeBoeuf decides to come across as a thoughtful, gruffly kind, even introspective character, not the self-absorbed maniac of his reputation. Since she’s not required to remove her clothes in every scene and utter immortal dialogue like “oh, oh… yes,” Dakota Johnson, as Zac’s retirement home caretaker Eleanor, turns out to be an understated, winning actress. The selection of Zack Gottsagen was the most risky, but ultimately most rewarding, choice made by the creative team.

Much has been made of the good-hearted spirit of this film, which is probably a euphemistic way of complimenting the creative team for casting Gottsagen in a leading role. And in fairness, Gottsagen and LeBoeuf do seem to have an offbeat, unconventional friendship that comes across as endearing and authentic.

This does not, however, relieve the writer/directors from delivering a film with a relevant story and actual character development, which they fail to do. While there’s some dialogue about how much freedom Zac should have, the film offers meager character development – who these characters are, what animates them – and very few thoughts about any larger issues. This makes the whole enterprise feel a bit insubstantial. To wrap up the story, the plot relies on a final scene that could charitably be called “magical realism,” but might more accurately be described as a story that simply ran out of steam.

Nilson and Schwartz have announced themselves as a creative team worth following. Hopefully, in their next outing, the team will acknowledge that Mark Twain relied on plot development and insightful observations about the world around him, not just a set of static characters, to make his stories so memorable.