The Peanut Butter Falcon

Directors: Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen, Dakota Johnnson, John Hawkes, Bruce Dern, Jon Bernthal, Thomas Hayden Church, Mick Foley, Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Running Time: 98 minutes
Rating: PG-13

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★) 

Watching a film as simple and magical as The Peanut Butter Falcon is a reminder how often lesser movies with more tools at their disposal work to complicate things. It's easy to imagine nearly half a dozen versions of this same story, told in far clumsier ways, lacking the vision and intelligence that first-time writer/directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz bring to it. When you say something is "feel-good" or "inspirational" that implies a lot of baggage most movies, indie or not, just aren't capable of carrying. This one carries it, subverting the potential cliches that come with a synopsis cynical audiences would likely be picking apart before they've seen the end result.

While it's been frequently and accurately described as a modern Twain-like fable in the vain of Huck Finn, it's greatest attribute is that it tells a straightforward story about real people in a certain section of America well. That may seem like a complete distillation, but it's transformative on its own terms. And in considering that, you can't help but be reminded of Ebert's mantra of a movie not being what it's about, but how. In this sense, it emerges as sort of a Fargo companion piece, wherein a completely different genre and setting, it accomplishes that same goal of absorbing us into its world and the everyday rythms of these characters' lives.

There's a scene midway that's essentially a baptism of sorts (in the movie's unusually offbeat way) and it's impossible not to view it as one, for both the film's audience and its actors, two of whom exit as different performers than when they went in. Or at least, emerge again as the performers we always knew and hoped they could be if just given the right material. Add to that a third performer making his acting debut who's as real as it gets since the filmakers supposedly made this for him, their friend. But we soon realize it's the other way around, with his performance ranking amongst the most wonderously engaging of the year.

Zak (Zack Gottsagen) is a 22-year-old with Down syndrome living in a retirement home in North Carolina. With dreams of becoming a professional wrestler, he obsessively watches tapes of his favorite, the Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Hayden Church), whose wrestling school he's determined to attend. After staging many failed escapes, with the help of his roomate Carl (Bruce Dern), he manages to sneak out of the home in the middle of the night, leaving his care worker and friend Eleanor (Dakota Johnson) in a panic.

Zak's okay, but hiding out in a small boat owned by troubled fisherman Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), who's getting harassed by Duncan's (John Hawkes) gang of dangerous crabbers determined to make him pay for stealing from them and burning their equipment. A very reluctant Tyler eventually agrees to take Zak to the wrestling school on his way down to Florida, but they're being tailed, both by Duncan's gang and a determined Eleanor, tasked by the care facility to bring Zak home. As they sail North Carolina's Outer Banks en route to the school, Tyler bonds with Zak, even training him for his potential wrestling debut. But Eleanor has other plans, and isn't quite on board with the 22-year-old experiencing the independence Tyler has granted him on their journey.

Despite being a story that bucks convention and logic, it's brought to the screen in such an honest, no-nonsense style by Nilson and Schwartz that you rarely stop to consider any contrivances or manipulation. If those exist, it's pulled off so seamlessly that you'd hardly even stop to notice or care. It's just an enjoyable ride from start to finish, spent with two characters who develop this symbiotic friendship in which each has as much to learn from the other. And, if anything, LeBeouf's Tyler gleans more, starting their journey traumatized by the accidental role he had in his older brother Mark's (Jon Bernthal) death.

That traumatic event has pushed Tyler down the wrong path in a major way, but the unexpected arrival of Zak couldn't have come at a better time, as we slowly watch LaBeouf transform this troubled thief into a mentor and de facto big brother of sorts. Say what you will of the actor's off-screen troubles, but between this and the past year's far darker, but similarly affecting autobiographical Honey Boy, he's experienced a true resurrgence in 2019, channeling those challenges into deeply felt performances another actor without his history wouldn't have brought as much to. 

While not a moment rings false between Zak and Tyler, the appearance of Eleanor to bring him "home" allows the script to commentate on, but wisely not bludgeon us with, the issue of how much autonomy 22-year-old with Down syndrome should have. While he clearly doesn't belong in an old age home where he's nearly asphyxiated with structure, an equal argument can be made that the situations Tyler puts him in are dangerous despite going a long way toward building his self-sufficiency as an adult.

The great thing about Johnson's Eleanor is that she isn't presented as anyone less than having Zak's best interests in my mind. It's his spirit and determination that she still has to fully come around on. Much like LeBeouf, so much of Dakota Johnson's roles have been predictated on making her a "star,"  that's it's stripped away the early promise she showed as a character actress in projects like Fox's short-lived sitcom, Ben and Kate, and even her single memorable scene in The Social Network. Funny, sarcastic and likable, this brings her back to that, playing an everyday person questioning life while wearing her heart on her sleeve. It's neither complicated or showy, much like the material itself.

When they do eventually reach Zak's destination and come face-to-face with the Salt Water Redneck, it isn't what you'd expect. Rather than attempting to shoehorn the story into a pro wrestling atmosphere, the script seems to do the exact opposite in drawing that world into the one presented here, helping make its third act an unqualifiable success. There's a real believability trickling down from Thomas Hayden Church's frighteningly accurate turn as washed-up grappling veteran to the wrestler cameos from  Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Mick Foley, who fit so seamlessly into this that anyone unfamilar with either would think they cast two Florida locals in the roles.

Between the folky, bluegrass soundtrack and swampy settting, this is a film that very much exists in its own universe, yet one likely recognizable to everyday life for those residing in it. Whereas a lesser effort would go completely off the rails with its ending, the filmmakers know how unneccessary that approach would come off, instead only choosing to show only what's important, crediting its audience as smart enough to fill in the blanks. We don't need to know everything, or have our hands held throughout, as it most powerful moments rest less on what we see than the reassurance these three characters will remain together and be okay. With a high rewatch value, it's hard to imagine anyone disliking The Peanut Butter Falcon, making for an excellent indie film case study on just how much can be accomplished with what on the surface could have easily seemed to be very little.

Easy A

Director: Will Gluck
Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Aly Michalka, Stanley Tucci
Running Time: 93 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

There's one glaring flaw in the central premise of Easy A, the latest teen comedy to adapt a literary classic into a modern high school setting, and I'm kind of surprised no one's noticed it. Or maybe they have, but like me, don't care because it gets too many other little things right to dwell on it. Or maybe it just isn't a flaw at all. Maybe we're supposed to believe a high school girl losing her virginity is still big news. A huge scandal in fact. Stop the presses. Yet it's also the movie's biggest asset, because we do believe that in this optimistic world this throwback movie creates for itself full of generally good, well-meaning people, that it could be. We also buy that Emma Stone's character could actually be in high school, be that virgin girl, and no guy would want to date her. Not easy at all, but she pulls it off and the further the story moves away from that initial premise the closer it gets to exploring its full consequences and becoming a rare standout among teen coming-of-age comedies. But the big story here is that in genre where stupidity usually reigns supreme, none of the characters come across as stupid, especially its protagonist, who Stone plays in a star-making performance as the most infectiously likable high school heroine not named Buffy or Veronica.

Narrating her own story via web cam, California high schooler Olive Penderghast (Stone) runs down the series of events that led to her being falsely labeled as the school slut, beginning with her lie to best friend Rhie (Aly Michalka) about losing her virginity to a guy from the local community college. Her made-up story is overheard in the bathroom by the school's religious zealot Marianne (Amanda Bynes) who spreads the rumor like wildfire, making Olive infamous, if not exactly popular, for the first time in her high school career. Thrilled she has any reputation at all, she embraces her perceived exploits with a revealing new wardrobe frequently stitched with a scarlet letter "A" and a cocky attitude to match. But perception and reality blur when her gay friend Brandon (Dan Byrd) needs help in appearing to be straight, getting it in a very physical and public (albeit fake) way. By this time what's true and what's not becomes almost irrelevant as Olive is now basically known as a hooker to her peers and must deal with the unhappy consequences of that notoriety.

Emma Stone's Golden Globe nominated performance kind of sneaks up on you because it isn't apparent right away just how much she has to do and how difficult it is to make it look this natural. It turns out her brief but memorable supporting turns in comedies like Superbad, The House Bunny and Zombieland didn't even give an inkling as to her full capabilities as an actress. Asked for the first time to carry a picture she gives a multi-faceted performance I'd put up against Natalie Portman's in Black Swan in any awards race any day of the week so it's a relief that audiences and critics have duly taken notice of how strong it is despite its placement in the often disparaged teen comedy genre. While Bert V. Royal's clever script does admittedly give her some depth to work with, she has to supply much of it, bringing an insanely likable mixture of wittiness, goofiness, insecurity and confidence to Olive. In a pivotal scene when a date goes bad she has to go through an entire movie's worth of emotions in just a few minutes and nails it. The tone of the film is sometimes all over the map but she's right there to cover for it every step of the way, elevating the kind of material that has made some of the biggest, most talented actresses look like fools even when performed well. To say Stone has officially arrived as a top tier star doesn't even begin to cover it, so just as long as she doesn't do anything crazy like  sign up for a 3D Spider-Man reboot, her acting future looks bright.

Despite the film having a plot hole big enough to drive a truck through with the school's overblown reaction to Olive's "scandal," the screenplay's smart, getting so many smaller details right that nearly every other film in this genre routinely botch. A few of the supporting characters are so likable and easygoing at times that they do feel almost too cool or too cleverly written to be believable as actual people but that's okay, mainly because they're not made to look like morons and it's such a rare event when periphery players in a teen comedy are memorable in any way at all. With an all-star line-up of actors, Easy A accomplishes the feat of juggling many supporting characters and sub-plots that never seem like filler. It's rare seeing a teen movie (or ANY movie) with parents (Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci) who are actually clued into reality and supportive of their daughter, but the slice-of-life scenes with Olive and her family are written and performed so well you won't just wish there were more of them, you'll wish you could move in with them. And as someone who references The Bucket List entirely too much in everyday conversation, Tucci's delivery of a joke at that film's expense was greatly appreciated as the comic zinger of the year for me.

The rest of the cast, including Thomas Hayden Church as Olive's English teacher Mr. Griffith (who teaches- you guessed it- Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"), Lisa Kudrow as his guidance counselor wife and Malcolm McDowell as a cranky principal all contribute a lot and are fleshed out really well considering the amount of screen time they're given. You know a film's in good shape when even the stereotypical "gay best friend" isn't just comic relief and is developed enough that we actually kind of care what happens to him. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of Amanda Bynes' annoyingly screechy Marianne, a walking stereotype if there ever was one. In a tired religious fanaticism sub-plot that seems directly ripped from Saved! Bynes mugs and overacts as if she were still in Hairspray. That nonsense starkly contrasts the romantic subplot with Olive and her would-be boyfriend, "Woodchuck" Todd (Penn Badgley), so unobtrusively interwoven into the plot it almost feels invisible. Because both actors are such naturals on screen and the issue isn't shoved down our throats, when they do eventually get together it feels earned.

At one point Olive makes reference to the fact that she wishes her life were a John Hughes movie and we get a montage of '80's films like Say Anything, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles and Can't Buy Me Love. The most frustrating aspect of Easy A is that in paying tribute to the spirit of those movies it has so many small moments where you think it can break free and match their quality, but it's always just a step behind Stone's comic brilliance. It's also drawn comparisons to Mean Girls but unlike many, I don't think the film has anything substantial or particularly subversive to say about fame or scandal since there isn't much of either present on a big enough scale. But even as the American Pie-type sex humor doesn't always mesh with the sweeter, more innocent tone, it's better at balancing them than could reasonably be expected. Honest and sincere in its intentions to a fault, here's a teen comedy so optimistic and lacking in cynicism that it not only acknowledges the hopeful possibility that high schoolers would be shocked that a classmate is having sex, but also thinks highly enough of them to believe they've actually seen a John Hughes movie.

Smart People

Director: Noam Murro
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Hayden Church, Ellen Page, Ashton Holmes
Running Time: 93 min.
Rating: R

**1/2 (out of ****)

It’s funny how our perceptions of certain actors can influence how we watch a film. Had Ellen Page not given her Oscar nominated performance as the sarcastic, wisecracking pregnant title character in Juno before Smart People was released no one probably would have thought twice about her work in it. But because she did make that previous film and garnered too much publicity for it, many will go into this one wanting to rip her apart. If you’re one of them you’re going to have a field day because her role is much larger than even the trailer indicated.

Then we have Dennis Quaid playing a depressed, burnt-out college professor. Had another actor been cast we also wouldn’t have cared, but because it’s Quaid (who has a longstanding reputation for playing man’s men) we pay attention. I mention all this because the cast is the best thing Smart People has going for it. The title is supposed to be ironic. I think. These people really believe they’re smart but in reality they’re not. That same description could apply to the film itself.

Despite some fascinating (if not all necessarily good) performances when the movie ended I wondered what the point of it was. I was never bored and couldn’t stop watching but found it was an ordeal spending time with these unlikable, irritating people. I also question the benefits of releasing another one of these low-budget indie “human comedies” that expect us to break out in a fit of giggles over issues like incest and repressed homosexuality…then have a good cry.
I really wanted to like this (and came close) but the tone felt way off and when I compiled a mental checklist I realized it failed in its primary goal of getting me to care what happens to the characters. I just couldn’t root for them and all their various emotional transformations rang false. Part of the problem is that everything is painted in such broad strokes that these people don’t feel real and instead came off as a screenwriter’s somewhat narrow vision of what “real” is supposed to be. As a result he film becomes a parody of what it’s trying to be and ends up being almost as arrogant and condescending as it’s protagonist.

To say that Carnegie Mellon University English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Quaid) is full of himself is like calling the sky blue or proclaiming the sun will rise tomorrow morning. A recent widower, he hides his pain and depression with sarcastic remarks and a side helping of witty insults. He’s one of those jerks who you actually have to think how to get along with and worry the next word you speak might set him off. He doesn’t care who his students are (even giving them name tags so he doesn’t have to) and is justifiably despised by his co-workers. Even his half-hearted desire to be head of the English department stems from massive egotism and a desperate need for attention rather than any kind of motivation to improve the academic program.

The real victim of Lawrence’s selfish behavior is his lonely, over-achieving daughter, Vanessa (Page) who is very much a chip off the old block and emulates his obnoxious, arrogant behavior. His college-age son James (Ashton Holmes) was smarter and just escaped into his own world, avoiding the situation entirely. On top of Lawrence failing miserably to find a publisher for his latest book, his adopted slacker brother, Chuck (Thomas Hayden Church) moves in and must act as his makeshift chauffer when he suffers an unfortunate head injury trying to retrieve his towed car. The accident causes an introduction to Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker) a former student he doesn’t remember who used to have a crush on him. They begin dating. And so begins the redemption of Lawrence Wetherhold.

If you had told me going in that amongst these world-class Oscar nominated actors, Sarah Jessica Parker would deliver the best performance in the film I wouldn’t have believed it. It’s not that everyone else does a bad job per se, just that Mark Poirier’s familiar script turns them into indie film caricatures and there’s only so much they can do to overcome it. The worst of which is Page’s Vanessa. Anyone who hated the character of Juno MacGuff better brace themselves. Vanessa is just like her except for the fact that she’s mean, nasty and completely unlikable. Why? Because she’s a REPUBLICAN and this is Hollywood. The portrait of Ronald Reagan on her wall kind of gave it away, as did her talking about Dick Cheney in glowing terms. Her political beliefs are completely irrelevant to the family pain she’s going through which is why it feels like a cheap shot that it was thrown in there. She’s also carries an S.A.T. study guide around with her in case we don’t quite get the message that she’s an overachiever.

It's worth mentioning there’s a development with Vanessa at the midway point that’s just disgusting. It was creepy, awkward and unnecessary. I wanted to throw up. I was a fan of Page’s work in Juno and thought she deserved all the praise and recognition she received so if I found her irritating in this I can only imagine what everyone else will think. I hate to agree with her detractors because she is a big talent, but unless she starts finding some different, more challenging roles other than the “wise well beyond her years” sarcastic teen, her career will start to fizzle out.Thomas Hayden Church does what he can with the slacker brother role and had another actor been cast it could have been a disaster. It’s one-dimensional part but Church brings some real dimension to it.

The chief selling point of the film is the emerging relationship between Quaid and Parker’s characters and the best thing I can say is that the two have great chemistry and I wanted to see them in a movie more deserving of it. It’s just impossible to believe that anyone could stand to be in the same room with a narcissistic emotional cripple like Lawrence much less be involved in some kind of meaningful relationship with him. At first she can't but then, of course, she begins to warm up to the idea. I didn't. Despite the best efforts of the actors his transformation was just too much of a stretch for me to buy in the context it was presented. That Quaid and Parker even come within a striking distance of pulling it off proves how much more they could have done with a stronger script. Parker’s Janet is the only character in the film who seems like a normal, grounded human being and seems so intelligent that I was almost willing to go along with her idea that this relationship could possibly work. Parker at least made me care what happened to that character and I probably would have rather watched a film about her.

This is a huge departure for Dennis Quaid and despite being miscast he mostly does a decent job, but I found myself distracted by some of the physical choices he made. During the film I found myself asking: "Why is he walking like that?" Supposedly, Quaid traveled to college campuses to study the professors but what purpose does it serve to imitate how they walk? Unaware that college professors are some strange species that walk differently than humans, I found myself concentrating on his duck-like shuffle throughout the film. He also has a middle-aged paunch, a shaggy beard and his head wanders all over the place while talking.

Rather than worrying how professors look it would have made more sense to inhabit how they act. Quaid does do that well, which is why I found the other things so distracting. He’s an underrated actor and it was great to see him in a different role like this but everything didn’t need to go so over-the-top. I wish director Noam Murro trusted him more to tell him the physical stuff wasn’t necessary and added little to the character. Michael Douglas’ work in 2000’s Wonder Boys is a good example of more restrained work in a very similar role.
I counted about four times the movie could have come to an end but kept going. That’s scary when you consider it’s only an hour and a half long, which I can’t believe because it sure felt a whole lot longer. It was one manufactured crisis after another with these people set to one of those pretentious indie soundtracks where every song sounds like it comes from a guy who’s strumming an acoustic guitar in a coffee shop. I love movies set in academia and ones featuring dysfunctional families so with this cast you’d figure this would be a slam dunk for me. Instead, it misses its mark by trekking through familiar territory with nothing new to say. It attempts to make up for it by trying too hard. Smart People is just a little too smart for its own good.