Directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz have recently released true, raw evidence as to why more people with disabilities need to be in more movies. Their latest movie “The Peanut Butter Falcon” showcases that ‘evidence’ and then some to an extremely high degree. It might kind of treat well at the box office, too.
Zack Gottsagen (making his acting debut) plays a 22-year old man with down syndrome simply named Zak whom lives at a retirement home because his family disapproved of him. At the retirement home, Zak lives with his elderly roommate Carl (Bruce Dern) while being taken care by Eleanor (Dakota Johnson).
Where we get interested in our main protagonist is that Zak plays this VHS tape of this wrestling school non-stop with Carl. His roommate is kind of sick and tired of watching that tape over and over again, but Zak chooses to because he wants to chase his dream of being one of the wrestlers on that tape.
Zak later escapes his retirement home “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” style and then questions his caretaker Eleanor where Zak is. Eleanor now has her task to search for Zak.
Meanwhile, Zak encounters a down-on-his-luck man named Tyler (played by Shia LaBeouf) whom recently lost his job and is considered a troubled thief. He soon encounters Zak when he is on his own boat he has been hiding on.
When Zak gets harassed by local teenage boys to dive down through water, Tyler promises him that he will accompany him to the wrestling school meaning that they will have to travel to Florida. Zak and Tyler soon both bond a friendship together while Tyler gets to know Zak a little more.
That is the time when a blind religious man assists both Zak and Tyler to make a raft journey down river. When spending time on the beach, Tyler wants to create a special wrestling name for Zak. Zak thinks of a typical wrestling name called “The Falcon”, but when Tyler gives him peanut butter, he utterly screams out, “The Peanut Butter Falcon!”
Zak must now have to follow his dream in order to be the wrestler he plans to be.
This might be one of the few movies released in 2019 that the audience themselves will never dislike any aspect of it. “The Peanut Butter Falcon” is another tremendous film to add to one of the best films of this year where it not just works as a movie about disabilities, but also as a sports movie about chasing your own dreams as a wrestler.
Zack Gottsagen as Zak is the TRUE star of this movie. He carries and owns the movie to himself throughout it. His personality and humor makes the movie discover it’s energy and tone altogether. His character is extremely relatable when it comes to him chasing his dreams. Gottsagen should easily be in more films and needs to be known as a star by the 2020’s.
My favorite saying from his character is that his number one rule is partying.
Shia LaBeouf gives his best performance of his career as the down-to-earth Tyler. What I loved about his character is that he did not care if Zak had a disability. He treated him like a typical human being would in a normal society. Tyler felt like a friend you could hang out with coming out of this movie. He should be recognized more by The Academy.
I don’t know how Dakota Johnson changed her career, but she must have took a 5-hour energy shot and said, “What am I doing playing Anastasia Steele throughout my career?” She did the right thing and brilliantly played Eleanor so well.
You can tell that Dakota Johnson researched how a caretaker’s personality is because her character of Eleanor is a soft kind of shy. Johnson gives out her A-game best I was never expecting out of her career.
I like how Bruce Dern is popping up this year in movies like a jack-in-the-box because he does such a really good job playing the roommate Carl. He has sort of a grandpa touch to him not to lie.
This movie also has such a brilliant sense of humor which the best joke in the movie I would keep under mummy wraps. I was busting laughing.
I only had one flaw with this movie which would be how the film ended. I will once again keep it under mummy wraps.
“The Peanut Butter Falcon” is another phenomenal movie to come out during the month of August. Nilson and Schwartz know what energy they are incorporating behind the camera and they succeed in huge heights. It sends out an important message that more people with special needs and disabilities need to be in more movies.
Grade: 9.5/10
