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The Peanut Butter Falcon
The road trip/buddy movie gets a refreshing makeover with 2019's The Peanut Butter Falcon, a warm and charming indie gem that examines an unlikely friendship with some definite twists that kept a stupid grin on my face for the entire running time.
Zak is a 22 year old young man with Downs Syndrome who lives in a nursing home and dreams of becoming a professional wrestler like his idol, Salt Water Redneck, who appears in commercials advertising his wrestling school. Zak decides he wants to attend the school and busts out of the nursing home and hides on a boat belonging to Tyler, an unemployed fisherman on the run, which is the beginning of a very special road trip since Tyler is Florida bound and the wrestling school is on the way. Throw in a sensitive nursing home employee named Eleanor who hits the road to find Zak and we have all the ingredients for a very special story.
Co-directors and screenwriters Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz have mounted an often visually arresting story about two people who have no business becoming friends actually doing so and accepting each other without trying to change each other. What made this story so special for me is the way this character Tyler doesn't in any acknowledge the fact that Zak has Downs Syndrome. The phrase never comes out of mouth during the course of the story. Even though he lays down the law in the name of their own self-preservation, he never says no to anything Zak wants to do and never discourages his dream in anyway.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the positioning of Eleanor in the story. Normally in this kind of story, the Eleanor character would spend the entire running time two steps behind our heroes, unable to catch up with them. In this story, Eleanor connects with the boys halfway and actually finds herself unable to fight Tyler's treatment of Zak as an independent adult. And though there is an attraction between Tyler and Eleanor, it never becomes the focus of the movie as one might expect. The focus of the movie is always on these two guys and Tyler's fierce protection of Zak and Zak's unwavering loyalty to Tyler.
The film is beautifully scenic, thanks to some superb cinematography and film editing providing rich visual imagery throughout. Shia LaBeouf gives a real movie star performance as Tyler and Zachary Gottsagen is completely winning as the sweet natured Zak. Dakota Johnson (50 Shades of Gray) is appropriately warm as Eleanor and Thomas Haden Church is terrific as Salt Water Redneck. Mention should also be made of cameos by Bruce Dern and former WWF superstar Jake "The Snake" Roberts. The pacing of the story could have been a little stronger, but the relationship between the central characters is so completely intoxicating one barely notices.
The road trip/buddy movie gets a refreshing makeover with 2019's The Peanut Butter Falcon, a warm and charming indie gem that examines an unlikely friendship with some definite twists that kept a stupid grin on my face for the entire running time.
Zak is a 22 year old young man with Downs Syndrome who lives in a nursing home and dreams of becoming a professional wrestler like his idol, Salt Water Redneck, who appears in commercials advertising his wrestling school. Zak decides he wants to attend the school and busts out of the nursing home and hides on a boat belonging to Tyler, an unemployed fisherman on the run, which is the beginning of a very special road trip since Tyler is Florida bound and the wrestling school is on the way. Throw in a sensitive nursing home employee named Eleanor who hits the road to find Zak and we have all the ingredients for a very special story.
Co-directors and screenwriters Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz have mounted an often visually arresting story about two people who have no business becoming friends actually doing so and accepting each other without trying to change each other. What made this story so special for me is the way this character Tyler doesn't in any acknowledge the fact that Zak has Downs Syndrome. The phrase never comes out of mouth during the course of the story. Even though he lays down the law in the name of their own self-preservation, he never says no to anything Zak wants to do and never discourages his dream in anyway.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the positioning of Eleanor in the story. Normally in this kind of story, the Eleanor character would spend the entire running time two steps behind our heroes, unable to catch up with them. In this story, Eleanor connects with the boys halfway and actually finds herself unable to fight Tyler's treatment of Zak as an independent adult. And though there is an attraction between Tyler and Eleanor, it never becomes the focus of the movie as one might expect. The focus of the movie is always on these two guys and Tyler's fierce protection of Zak and Zak's unwavering loyalty to Tyler.
The film is beautifully scenic, thanks to some superb cinematography and film editing providing rich visual imagery throughout. Shia LaBeouf gives a real movie star performance as Tyler and Zachary Gottsagen is completely winning as the sweet natured Zak. Dakota Johnson (50 Shades of Gray) is appropriately warm as Eleanor and Thomas Haden Church is terrific as Salt Water Redneck. Mention should also be made of cameos by Bruce Dern and former WWF superstar Jake "The Snake" Roberts. The pacing of the story could have been a little stronger, but the relationship between the central characters is so completely intoxicating one barely notices.