The Peanut Butter Falcon 2019

     This is an adventure story and the setting is in the world of a modern Mark Twain.  Zak is 22 years old and he has Down syndrome.  He runs away from the home where he wants to chase his dream of becoming a professional wrestler.  Zak would like to attend the wrestling school, The Salt Water Redneck.  Zak meets Tyler and he is 32 years old.  Tyler is a small-time outlaw on the run and he becomes Zak’s coach and ally.  Together, they travel through the deltas, drink whisky, find God, catch fish, elude capture and convince Eleanor to join them on their trip.  Eleanor is 28 years old and she is a nursing home employee with her own story.


     This a road/buddy movie with a fairly mature content.  There are some guns and shooting, violent wrestling sequences, a character punching a kid and a knife held to a person’s throat.  Language is fairly frequent, characters flirt and kiss, one character wears only underpants for several scenes.  Drinking of whiskey and having hangovers are common.  some smoking and a flashback to a drunken driving incident.  On the plus side, there is kindness, empathy and a fair representation of someone with Down syndrome.  There is good acting and the story feels real.  It does have some incredibly emotional scenes.  4* (I really liked this movie)


97 min, Adventure directed and written by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz with Zack Gottsagen, Ann Owens, Dakota Johnson, Bruce Dern, Shia LaBeouf, Thomas Haden Church, Rob Thomas, Jon Bernthal, Tim Zajaros, John Hawkes, Yelawolf, Jonathan D. Williams, Deja Dee, Lee Spencer, Mark Helms.


Note:  Imdb 7.6 out of 10 with 38,378 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 96% with 200 critics 96% with 4,704 ratings, Roger Ebert 3 1/2* Sheila O’Malley, The Guardian 4* out of 5* Wendy Ide, Empire Online 4* out of 5* Beth Webb, NME 4* out of 5* Olly Richards, Common Sense Media Jeffrey M. Anderson age 13+, 3* positive, 3* role models, 3* violence 2* sex, 3* language, 1* consumerism, Letterboxd 3.9* out of 5*, Metacritic 70 out of 100 with 28 critics (23 positive 5 mixed) 7.7 out of 10 with 89 ratings (67 positive 8 mixed 5 negative).