While The Peanut Butter Falcon isn’t a perfect movie, it’s still been gratifying to see it have the success that it’s had. I went into it knowing very little about it and I was really charmed by it. Zack Gottsagen, an actor with Down Syndrome, stars as a young man who wants to pursue a career in professional wrestling. As he flees the state home where he’s been staying, he runs afoul of Shia LaBeouf as a washed-up small-time crook and the two journey down the Carolina coast together in pursuit of Zak’s dream. This is a film that doesn’t boast a whole lot in terms of surprises. It’s a road-movie and an odd-couple buddy movie and the film hits all the beats you’d expect it to as Zak & Tyler initially quarrel and annoy each other only to eventually come to care about each other and form a tight bond of friendship. You know, they help each other to become more complete people and all that. I don’t mean to be flippant about it; it’s just that, yes, we’ve seen this before. The script is witty and the direction gives the movie some real atmosphere. But it’s really the performances that elevate this film. Gottsagen is a compelling lead, charismatic and natural in a way that never feels forced; this is, again, the kind of film that could easily cross over into exploitation, but it never even comes close to that because of Gottsagen’s winning central performance. And LaBeouf is, in my opinion, Oscar worthy; he’s always been a better actor than he’s been given credit for being and his performance as the crude Tyler is his finest work. He’s gruff, initially almost unrecognizeable behind a scraggly beard and a ball-cap pulled down low over his eyes, and a ball of abrasive fire; but LaBeouf finds the heart of the character and reveals that Tyler is a man suffering profound grief from the loss of his brother and the way the script weaves that into his growing relationship with Zak is artful, not clumsy. Dakota Johnson is good as a woman hot on Zak’s heels with intentions of taking him back to his group home. She and LeBeouf have a scruffy kind of chemistry. Bruce Dern has a great cameo at the beginning of the movie and Thomas Haden Church is fantastic as the Salt-Water Redneck, a washed up wrestler idolized by Zak. John Hawkes is good, as always, as the movie’s heavy, a criminal that’s after Tyler for revenge; anybody else would have leaned into this guy, but Hawkes gives a laid back performance, almost minimal, and the character feels very human while still maintaining his menace. There are a few bits that don’t quite work; in the third act, a character makes a decision that just doesn’t make any sense with the way the character has been established, but if you can roll with that, it’ll help you start to see that this is, in many ways, an American fable and perhaps shouldn’t be held to the standards of a realistic drama. Still, even if a couple of beats in the back third don’t land exactly right, you’ll probably still enjoy the film; it’s sincere, charming, wonderfully acted and, ultimately, optimistic and hopeful without feeling cheesy or corny. What a feat. 3 ½ stars.
tl;dr – a witty script and two phenomenal lead performances give a strong spine to this predictable road/buddy movie; sweet, sincere and charming, it’s entertaining and fun. 3 ½ stars.