The Peanut Butter Falcon Movie Review
Let’s talk about a movie I loved. It’s called The Peanut Butter Falcon and it stars Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, and Zack Gottsagen. With a summer chock full of action movies and blockbusters (I am not complaining, I love me some Hobbs and Shaw as much as the next person), it was refreshing to watch a tiny movie that had a lot of heart.
Here’s the gist so you can see if it’s something you’d be into. Zak (Zack Gottsagen) has Down Syndrome and lives in a retirement home. He is looked after by Eleanor (Dakota Johnson) and you can tell early on that Eleanor really cares about him. There isn’t a whole lot to do at the retirement home so Zak watches old wrestling videos. He becomes obsessed with an old time wrestler named Salt Water Redneck who has commercials advertising his wrestling school. Of course Zak wants to go to the wrestling school so he busts out of the retirement home to pursue his dream of meeting Salt Water Redneck and attending his wrestling school.
This is where the movie gets fun. Zak meets a man on the run named Tyler (Shia LaBeouf). After a rocky initial meeting, Tyler agrees to take Zak to the wrestling school. This was probably my favorite Shia LaBeouf performance since he was in Holes (2003) (no, I am not joking). LaBeouf and Gottsagen have such great chemistry together which is largely why the movie works so well. It’s a really beautiful portrayal of an unlikely friendship and there are tons of sweet moments that you get to witness as the movie unfolds. The movie could have easily fallen into the trap of being a bit too cliche, but each time it approached that line it pivoted to avoid it.
It’s been compared to a Huck Finn-esque tale and after seeing it I can concur it did give me very Huck Finn vibes. Two men on the run who use a raft to escape, one from a retirement home the other from a troubled and tragic past. This was a fun movie that made you remember the value of friendship and the importance of pursuing your dreams, no matter how unlikely they may be. As Tyler tells Eleanor, “While you’ve been doing paperwork we’ve been out here doing a thing called living.” The Peanut Butter Falcon will surely make you feel alive.
Film or Movie: Film
You’ll like this film if:
1. You like tales of adventure like Huck Finn
2. You want your faith to be restored in Shia LaBeouf
3. You want to be reminded of the good things in life
