My Review of "Peanutbutter Falcon"

Peanutbutter Falcon is the surprise hit of the year for me so far. I did not expect it to be as great of a movie as it was. It was movie that I have heard of before but didn't think much of it. when I saw the trailers. I recently subscribed to the Canadian streaming source called Crave and they had it available for streaming. I'm extremely happy that I gave this movie a chance because it just gave me such a smile throughout the movie.

This movie is about a young man with down syndrome by the name Zak, played by Zack Gottsagen. He's been abandoned by his family and the state had assigned him to live in an old age home. He befriends all of the seniors at the home and they try to help him escape the retirement home however his caretaker Eleanor, played by Dakota Johnson, makes it harder and harder to escape.

He gets roomed with a senior that turned out to be an engineer after one of his many attempts to escape. The senior helps Zak escape the senior home so that he can follow his dream to become a wrestling superstar. After Zak's escape he runs into Tyler, played by Shia LaBeouf.

Tyler is a drifter that is still grieving the loss of his brother. He's really down and is barely scraping by. He's been stealing traps to make ends meet. Unfortunately he gets caught for his crimes and he's basically a wanted man.

After Zac and Tyler meet the real movie starts up. The two form a brother like relationship that will melt your heart. I haven't seen a duo with such great chemistry as these two. These two work so well together that I can't deny that they were the perfect actors for this movie. Although, Tyler is somewhat of a despicable character Shia LaBeouf was so charismatic that you can't help but like him.

As the movie progresses, Tyler's character heals from the heartache of the loss of his brother and starts to understand what really matters in his life.

No matter where Zak goes he seems to be able to win over the people that he's surrounded with. He also discovers that he's able to accomplish much more than he thought he was capable of and that his search for family has always been around him all this time.

Even Eleanor discovers what's truly important for her and what's important for Zak. There's unfortunately not too much content for Eleanor but she is still a vital role in the movie. She's constantly fighting the moral dilemma of whether to do her duties or follow her moral compass.

The way that they weave this story together with flashbacks and beautiful landscape shots is amazing. It really gives the atmosphere of this movie a sense of culture.Their environment sort of becomes the 4th main character of the movie. I felt as if I was there traveling with our three heroes as they sail, walk and drive throughout the southeast states of the US. They included encounters with a number of small characters in this movie that really elevated the immersion of this cultural feel.

Overall, this is a feel good movie that I highly recommend to everyone especially in hard times. It's a road trip buddy movie but feels like so much more. The exploration of the characters and dimensions of these characters really suck you into the story. You will fall in love with every aspect of this movie. I have to give this movie a 9 out of 10. I have been recommending this movie to everyone of my friends and will likely watch this movie over and over again.