The Peanut Butter Falcon
Rent & Buy
A down-on-his-luck crab fisherman embarks on a journey to get a young man with Down syndrome to a professional wrestling school in rural North Carolina and away from the retirement home where he’s lived for the past two and a half years.
What critics thought
Critics broadly warmed to this Mark Twain-inflected road movie, singling out Zack Gottsagen and Shia LaBeouf as an unexpectedly affecting pair — though a notable gap opens between the high approval of reviewers and the more tempered enthusiasm of those who found its feel-good instincts a little too tidy. The chief disagreement is whether the film's sunny simplicity is a feature or a flaw: some saw it as unaffected charm, others as a story that stays too close to the surface to earn the emotions it reaches for.
“In Gottsagen, we get a performer who appears to be playing an earnest, unfiltered version of himself, while in LaBeouf, there are layers at play. Oddly enough, both approaches result in a kind of spontaneous unpredictability.”
Peter Debruge·Variety
“[Gottsagen's] sensibility infuses the modern-day fable with an engaging forthrightness. But the unequivocal material often sticks close to the surface, and the film built around him, for all its physical sweep, can feel constricted by obviousness.”
Sheri Linden·The Hollywood Reporter
“a warm (if somewhat overcooked) dramedy”
David Ehrlich·IndieWire
Genres
Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Cast & Crew
Tyler NilsonDirector
Michael SchwartzDirector
Shia LaBeoufTyler
Zack GottsagenZak
Dakota JohnsonEleanor
Thomas Haden ChurchSalt Water Redneck
John HawkesDuncan
Bruce DernCarl
Jon BernthalMark
YelawolfRatboy
Wayne DehartBlind Jasper John
Aurelian Smith Jr.Sam
Mick FoleyJacob
Jonathan SadoffComposerThe Peanut Butter Falcon
A down-on-his-luck crab fisherman embarks on a journey to get a young man with Down syndrome to a professional wrestling school in rural North Carolina and away from the retirement home where he’s lived for the past two and a half years.
What critics thought
Critics broadly warmed to this Mark Twain-inflected road movie, singling out Zack Gottsagen and Shia LaBeouf as an unexpectedly affecting pair — though a notable gap opens between the high approval of reviewers and the more tempered enthusiasm of those who found its feel-good instincts a little too tidy. The chief disagreement is whether the film's sunny simplicity is a feature or a flaw: some saw it as unaffected charm, others as a story that stays too close to the surface to earn the emotions it reaches for.
“In Gottsagen, we get a performer who appears to be playing an earnest, unfiltered version of himself, while in LaBeouf, there are layers at play. Oddly enough, both approaches result in a kind of spontaneous unpredictability.”
Peter Debruge·Variety
“[Gottsagen's] sensibility infuses the modern-day fable with an engaging forthrightness. But the unequivocal material often sticks close to the surface, and the film built around him, for all its physical sweep, can feel constricted by obviousness.”
Sheri Linden·The Hollywood Reporter
“a warm (if somewhat overcooked) dramedy”
David Ehrlich·IndieWire
Genres
Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Cast & Crew
Tyler NilsonDirectorMichael SchwartzDirectorShia LaBeoufTylerZack GottsagenZakDakota JohnsonEleanorThomas Haden ChurchSalt Water RedneckJohn HawkesDuncanBruce DernCarlJon BernthalMarkYelawolfRatboyWayne DehartBlind Jasper JohnAurelian Smith Jr.SamMick FoleyJacobJonathan SadoffComposerRent & Buy