The Peanut Butter Falcon Review

We are quickly running out of summer as August comes to a close. With all the major summer blockbusters behind us, it was nice to be able to relax with a smaller, feel-good indie. Going into August, there were two independent films that I especially had my eye on and it made me happy that I was able to get around to both of them. The first one was "The Farewell" with Awkwafina and the second one was this one. "The Peanut Butter Falcon." With absolutely no context, that's a bit of a unique name for a movie, which certainly grabs your attention. Thus when you take a closer look at it after said title grabs your attention, you become immediately intrigued. At least that's what my experience was. This is a movie where Shia LaBeouf plays a character who goes on an adventure with a young man who has Down syndrome. Yeah, that just screams at you that it's going to be a feel-good movie worth seeing. It helps that I have my finger pretty closely on the pulse of the movie industry and thus was aware of this one back in March when it debuted at the South by Southwest film festival to very strong reviews. It took a while for it to get here, but it finally hit wide release this past weekend, expanding into 986 theaters after a few weeks of limited release, so I was excited to check it out. 

Expanding on the premise here, newly introduced actor Zack Gottsagen plays a 22-year-old man with Down syndrome named Zak who lives in a retirement home because he has no family and that's where he ended up. His dream, though, is to become a professional wrestler and attend the wrestling school that is led by his hero, the Salt Water Redneck. Eleanor, played by Dakota Johnson, does her best job at being his caretaker, but ultimately he escapes with the help of his older roommate Carl, played by Bruce Dern. Zak then wanders by himself until he comes upon Tyler, played by Shia LaBeouf, who himself is on the run since he lit a fire to $12,000 worth of fishing equipment after being angry that a local crab shack wouldn't buy all the crabs that he stole. Tyler initially resists Zak and tries to abandon him, but quickly his heart softens and the two of them form an unbreakable bond as the two outlaws of sorts go on a fun adventure to Salt Water Redneck's school while Eleanor independently is trying to hunt down Zak after her boss is understandably upset that he escaped. This is very much a modern retelling of Huckleberry Finn, or at least takes heavy inspiration from that, thus giving this a classic feel to it, but with a very heartwarming spin to it that is certain to win you over.

The thing that makes this work is Zack Gottsagen himself, as well as the relationship he has with Shia LeBeouf and Dakota Johnson. Quite frankly, there's not a lot of roles in Hollywood written for people with disabilities, let alone Down syndrome, so that aspect of this is what immediately makes the movie stand out and it's just magical watching Zack perform, making this movie centered around him that's very much a reflection of him as a person. After watching the movie, it's one of those experiences where I immediately rush to the internet to learn the story of how this came about. In searching through a lot of interviews on YouTube with the cast, I eventually found a featurette with the directors talking about how this came about. They were at a camp for people with disabilities and talked with Zack, who expressed his dream of wanting to become a movie star. They were honest with him and stated that it's probably not going to happen, which caused Zack to get quite emotional. He responded by telling him why don't they do it. That was about eight years, so it was a long process to get the funding and get it made, but the long story short is that they made a proof-of-concept video, which opened the door to them getting it done.

Getting that background to the movie really elevates this as being something special. I give a lot of props to the two directors, Tyler Nilson and Mike Schwartz, for making the effort to get this done. And this is their feature-length directorial debuts, so it's not like it was something that was easy for them. They've directed a few shorts before this and had a few small acting roles, but it's not like they had the power to write a script for Zack and immediately make it happen. I imagine there was a lot of persistence and patience involved, but it paid. And now we have this unique film where an actor with Down syndrome gets to be the lead star. A lot of things that happened in the movie were things that Zack was passionate about in real life, like wrestling, swimming and partying. So the directors really wrote this film around him, which is awesome. In watching more interviews, Shia, Dakota and Zack consistently emphasize that the filmmaking process was a very special one where they became an immediate family. That definitely translates onto the screen as there's this special bond between the three of them in the film, especially with Shia and Zack who are going on this adventure together with Shia essentially letting Zack lead the way, treating him as an equal.

That last part is also what makes this special. There's a lot of movies where two people or more are going on an adventure. As I mentioned earlier, said premise goes all the way back to classic literature. So it's not like the premise itself is super unique. But it carries with it a powerful message as to how to treat people with disabilities. A lot of said people are looked down upon as a lesser species of human beings. Even if we're not explicitly referring to them as "retarded" or other direct insults, how we act when we're around them can mean the same thing. Do we act like they're a lesser human who needs to be watched over and taken care of as if they are a little child? Do we look at them funny and refuse to talk or interact with them? Doing so can be quite damaging and can be equal to or even worse than if we walked up to them and insulted them. This movie teaches a strong message that we should treat someone with Down syndrome as equals, both in the words we use around them as well as the actions. And if we do that, we can come to learn how truly fantastic and amazing they are. I personally haven't had a ton of interaction with Down syndrome people in my life, but when I have truly gotten to know them, those types of relationships are honestly some of the best I've had.

I think this message here can just as equally expand a lot further into being a strong lesson as to how to treat our fellow humans. I think back to the classic line from Marin Luther King Jr.'s speech wherein he says that he dreams of a time where people will be judged, not based on the color of their skin, but the content of their character. I think it's very harmful to look on the outward appearance of someone and immediately make judgments based on that, or attach labels of any sort such as race, culture, sexual orientation, political opinion, religion, or whatever disabilities they may have. Rather we should set that aside and get to know who the person truly is on the inside, even if they aren't doing so themselves. In fact, maybe a better word there is ESPECIALLY if they aren't doing so themselves. Often we are our own worst critic. Because of that, if someone can look past all the negative things we are saying about ourselves and truly love us for who we are, that can give us an added level of confidence to wake up and try to become better. So if we perceive that someone looks or acts differently than we do, or has a different opinion, maybe we shouldn't be so quick to judge and try to genuinely get to know who they are. Perhaps we can make friends that we never thought we would.

I could nitpick elements of this movie if I wanted to. It's a very simple and straightforward plot. Some of the character development happens rather quickly instead of taking time to evolve. And you pretty much know exactly where it's going to go. But I don't really feel like diving too deep into all of that because I think the most powerful element of this is the subtlety of it all with how these messages I spoke of are incorporated. It doesn't bash you over the head with a ton of bricks, but rather it quietly sticks with you. You don't walk out of the theater with your mind having been absolutely blown, but it's a movie that will always remain with you in the back of your head. And oftentimes it's those types of movies that make a bigger impression in the long run. Thus I was rather captivated by the simple adventures these three went on in this movie. I didn't need any huge plot twist or a crazy emotional moment. I was perfectly content with watching them float down the river on a raft and other things like that. And I really liked how much it showed how strongly everyone cared about this project, from the directors on top all the way down to the small, nearly cameo moments from people like Bruce Dern or Jon Bernthal. It's a special movie and I'm going to give it an 8/10.