The Peanut Butter Falcon focuses on Zak, played by Zack Gottsagen, a young man with Down Syndrome who lives in a nursing home but aspires to be a wrestler. One day, with the help of his roommate Carl, played by Bruce Dern, Zak escapes the nursing home so he can attend a wrestling school in Florida run by WWE star the Salt Water Redneck, played by Thomas Haden Church. Zak soon crosses paths with Tyler, played by Shia LaBeouf, a young outlaw also on the run, and he becomes Zak’s mentor and friend. As the two make their way to Florida, they also run into Eleanor, played by Dakota Johnson, an employee of the nursing home, and they convince her to join along for the trip.
Envisioned in the style of a modern Mark Twain story, leans in pretty heavily on the themes of friendship and following one’s dreams. And the film hits those notes well without ever coming across as preachy or heavy handed. It’s feel-good and inspirational, but not really manipulative. There’s a sense of familiarity at times, but for the most part, embraces its sugary sweet tone and turns it into a solid adventure for audiences to enjoy.
And that’s mainly due to its treatment of its main character. There have been other movies that touched upon similar material where the character feels somewhat shallow, as if there’s really not much to him other than their mental condition. And it would have been real easy to write Zak in a similar matter. However, writer-directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz do a great job allowing Zak to really stand out. He loves wrestling and is well-versed in the lingo. He can easily adapt to his surroundings and can stand up for himself when he feels he’s being taken advantage of. While much of the story structure is simple and straightforward, Zak himself really stands out.
And Gottsagen’s acting is really solid here. The role - as well as this entire movie - was written specifically for him, and both his performance, and the character’s overall personality, make him feel fleshed out and not so much of a spectacle. He feels genuine. And he makes for a solid pairing with LaBeouf, who gives what’s easily his best performance in years. LaBeouf has a strong presence each time he’s on screen. While sometimes he may feel a bit too aggressive just for the sake of it, his delivery is often sharp, and to the point, and is often engaging to watch.
Many of the film’s best moments are Gottsagen and LaBeouf’s interactions. They feel natural, especially for just how funny they sometimes can be. Though they’re not always laugh-out-loud funny. The movie doesn’t stop what it’s doing to tell jokes. At a mere 98 minutes, it moves pretty quick and much of the humor stems from subtle moments of just the two talking as they’re in the middle of an important scene as they head towards their next destination. It’s rare that they say something a gut-busting knee-slapper, but it’s hard not to crack a smile when LaBeouf asks what the first rule of their trip is and Gottsagen simply responds, “Party.”
Dakota Johnson also does a really solid job here, and while the film has a throwback feel to an old Mark Twain story, she embodies a much more subversive, modern take on characters from those types of stories. She is stuck with some of the more cliched dialogue at times, spouting tired tropes such as “you don’t know me in an argument.” But for every one of these moments, she’ll get double the amount of moments where she’s easily holding her own against many of the domineering male characters.
The film boasts an impressive supporting cast, but with the exception of Bruce Dern and Thomas Haden Church - both of whom really shine but are limited in screen time - the film doesn’t really know what to do with the rest of them. John Hawkes and Yelawolf play a pair of fishermen who Tyler double crosses early on in the film and will sporadically show up from time to time to just chase him around and then leave. Their storyline is revisited multiple times in the movie, but it comes so infrequently that it becomes easy to forget what the whole catalyst to their issue with Tyler was in the first place.
Former wrestlers Mick Foley and Jake “The Snake” Roberts have cameos towards the end in what’s a fun nod to both Zak the character and actor’s love of wrestling, though don’t necessarily get to do a whole lot in their respective roles. Meanwhile Jon Bernthal has a cameo as Mark, a figure from Tyler’s past whose only seen in dialogue-less flashbacks that are only seen twice in the whole movie for maybe about a minute each, and mainly consist of them just sitting around. This is easily one of the most confusing aspects of the movie, as it tries to give Tyler some backstory, it too is not revisited often enough or elaborated on to feel important to the story. These could have easily been cut and the movie would have lost nothing of value.
Which leads to this movie’s biggest issue, which is the fact that it often creates conflict for the sake of creating conflict. It wasn’t enough that this couldn’t be more of a straightforward slice of life drama that simply focused on the friendship of Tyler and Zak. The film tries shoehorning villainous characters into the story that don’t feel warranted. As mentioned, the storyline with Hawkes and Yelawolf feels forced, and isn’t visited frequently enough to feel like a compelling story. They show up, chase the main characters around, threaten them, and then leave, only to come back again at a random point in the movie to do the same thing all over again. And the way in which they ultimately tie into the film’s bigger picture simply leads to a forced, rushed ending that could have easily been reworked without their involvement.
This fits into the film’s problem that crops up from time to time where it has trouble logically showing how characters should get from Point A to Point B. The way in which Eleanor meets up with Tyler and Zak is due to the fact that her boss sends her to go chasing them around the country rather than reporting Zak missing from the nursing home. He never gives a reason as to why he delays, nor is he ever seen again (though she’s seen talking to him later on in the movie). Not only would this be extremely unprofessional had that exchange happened in real life (she even argued he needed to call it in), but it just seems like lazy writing, as there seemed to be no other way for Eleanor to meet up with the two. While this is Nilson and Schwartz’s first time writing a film and they do get cut some slack, the story should make sense.
Though where the two come up short in the storytelling department, they excel in directing. For their first feature length film, they knock it out of the park on a technical level. Once the main plot gets rolling and Zak and Tyler are teamed up together, a good chunk of the film is seen through wide shots. There are a ton of beautiful shots of the countryside, and the composition of each shot is expertly blocked, as if the duo have been doing this for much longer. Each of these scenes feel like photographs come to life, and help evoke that nostalgic feel that the movie longs for. If anything, this film is at the very least wonderful from a visual perspective.
The Peanut Butter Falcon does have some narrative shortcomings. It’s clear that Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz still need to work through building a logical, cohesive narrative, as the film is filled with plot contrivances and forced conflict. Despite some obvious flaws, the film does still work though, even if the ride’s a bit bumpy. It’s expertly filmed, and a lot of what makes it succeed is how it embraces its feel good tone that never really feels like its guilting the audience to feel bad for it. And to top it all off, its a trio of great performances from Gottsagen, LaBeouf, and Johnson that will ultimately win audiences over.
Recommendation: Watch It
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