The Peanut Butter Falcon, written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz - Seven out of 10

The Peanut Butter Falcon, written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz

Seven out of 10

On the one hand, the public may be enchanted by this motion picture that has obvious merits and we could agree from the start to place it in the memorable category on the subject of Zak aka Zack Gottsagen and his exhilarating adventure, once he is liberated from the old people’s home where he had been trapped – sort of – for lack of alternatives, in the absence of a facility able to cope better with his needs, seeing as he suffers from Down syndrome and his interment in the place where we find him to begin with, does not help with his condition, on the contrary, it stifles and eventually would suffocate the much younger man, who is only 22, but forced to live with men and women in their seventies or older…

On the other hand though, this cinephile is annoyed by Shia LaBeouf – his exploits off the screen should be eliminated from the equation perhaps, although if we take that view, the we could absolve so many abhorrent individuals, starting with Weinstein perhaps, albeit there is a major difference between the preposterous paper hats that LaBeouf has used in some theaters, together with conflicts, fights with partners on set, and the horrible acts that the former movie mogul has been accused of.

Even if we disregard the annoying things we hear about LaBeouf, his performance as Tyler, in The Peanut Butter Falcon, is doubtful and as a personal take, he seems to be exaggerated and comes across as artificial and hard to believe…although Variety (‘an odyssey audiences won’t soon forget’) and others have been rather enthused by the movie and they are probably right.

Dakota Johnson is not overwhelming as Eleanor, the young woman who works at the home where Zak had been kept – some would say detained – but she seems much better than the ‘method actor ‘and her presence is overall acceptable.

Finding god, enjoying life and finding liberty outside his prison is exuberant enough and would make many enjoy a film that has a very good Metascore rating of 70 out of 100, which means that major critics have in general appreciated the work.

Alas, the undersigned has been put off by LaBeouf and not impressed enough by Dakota Johnson to consider this worth watching…indeed, after one point, the attention dropped to a minimum.