Peanut Butter Falcon

Peanut Butter Falcon is a great feel-good movie where two outcasts on-the-run see the best in each other and let that lift them up. Zak is a 22 year old man who defines himself by his downs syndrome. The state has put him in a nursing home where he's the youngest resident by 50 years. He breaks out and runs into Tyler (Shia LeBeouf), a ne'er do well blue collar worker who is trying to escape his own set of mistakes. When Zak tells his newfound friend of his disability, Tyler responds, without missing a beat, by saying "I don't give a s--t," in the tone of W.C. Fields quote "I am free of all prejudices. I hate everyone equally." He is equal parts unforgiving and accepting. Zak is not used to that response. He shares that he's hoping to travel to the wrestling school of the "Saltwater Redneck" a pro-wrestler he's obsessively idolized as his hero.

The film was created around actor Zack Gottsagen, who the filmmakers met through a camp they were participating in. It serves as a great dissertation on how to interact with someone who is disabled. We see many calling him a "retard" as well as those that are his advocates, this group focused on Eleanor (Dakota Johnson) a social worker from the nursing home that has befriended Zak and taken him as a special case. She's out looking for Zak hoping to track him down after his escape. She meets Tyler who tells her to stop calling him "retarded," too, pointing out that treating him as disabled is the same as telling him he is disabled. This is a paradigm shift for both Zak and Eleanor and one that they both seem to have needed to hear.

Tyler's got his own lessons to learn, as well. Upon introduction you wonder why he's so against the world and eventually learn of some of the baggage he's carrying. Zak provides an outlet to face and accept some of those things within himself. Perhaps this sounds a bit sappy, but it's told truthfully, and with a lot of humor. The amazing cast is rounded out with people like John Hawkes, Bruce Dern, and Thomas Haden Church along with a couple of professional wrestlers representing Zak Gottsagen's own interests.

Shia LeBeouf is real against Zack and that relationship makes this film shine. LeBeouf has been a bit of a punching bag in Hollywood since his rise to blockbuster stardom with the Transformer movies. As with so many child actors with huge success, he struggled with substance abuse and adjustment and then started to make a lot of very crazy-seeming choices. I've always been endeared to his more quirky decisions and find the "Do it" motivational video un-ironically inspiring every time I watch it. In his more recent performances he uses his reputation to his advantage. We all know he's a bit damaged and a bit lost and we feel that in his character here.

This is a buddy film and a road-trip flick and as such, Peanut Butter Falcon has the requisite soundtrack needed to be on part with the best of those genres. It's a film that feels like a labor of love. This is an example of a great independent film with a modest budget coming in with all the quality and heart you could want. I look forward to what co-directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz have for us next.