Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

The Peanut Butter Falcon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 8, 2019

Shia LaBeouf is 33 as this review is being written, but even in the wild and wooly annals of Hollywood stories, he’s already had more falls from grace and comebacks than many stars two or three times his age. The Peanut Butter Falcon definitely belongs to the “comeback” category, and it provides LaBeouf a good opportunity to play a sympathetic part in a film that is designed to tug pretty strongly at heartstrings, though some may feel the film is at least a little exploitative in dealing with a character with Down Syndrome, played by an actor with that chromosomal anomaly (others may feel, as actor Zack Gottsagen evidently does himself, that The Peanut Butter Falcon provided an actor with Down Syndrome a tremendous opportunity). LaBoeuf portrays a North Carolina fisherman named Tyler whose past trials and tribulations have set his moral compass spinning at least a bit, leading to some criminal activity which ultimately brings him into conflict with two guys without any moral compass, Duncan (John Hawkes) and the aptly nicknamed Ratboy (Yelawolf). Tyler’s flight from his adversaries intersects with the escape of Zak (Zack Gottsagen), the aforementioned kid with Down Syndrome, who has been cared for at a retirement home by a concerned woman named Eleanor (Dakota Johnson). Zak has dreams of a professional wrestling career, however, and decides it’s high time he made his mark on the world and realized his personal goals. Even this brief general summary may give some indication of the quirkiness factor in this film, but The Peanut Butter Falcon, despite its obvious artifices and even whimsy, turns out to traffic in some surprisingly real feeling emotions.

If memory serves (which it may not), American Honey was the last “comeback vehicle” for LaBoeuf that I personally reviewed, and in a way The Peanut Butter Falcon echoes some of its same sentiments, with some downtrodden characters trying to better themselves and with a vignette laden storyline that sees those characters taking a “road trip”, albeit in this particular instance what turns out to be more of a water trip, with an almost Mark Twain-esque raft playing into the proceedings. Tyler and Zak are thrown together by chance (and/or the vagaries of screenwriters and directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz), and the film plies some admittedly rote material in the early dealings between the pair, with Tyler initially trying to ditch the “disabled” Zak, but the two of course finally assuming a “you and me against the world” attitude.

A film about two mismatched guys on a road trip, including one with a perceived "disability" (I keep putting that term in quotes because it's obvious Zak doesn't consider himself especially "hobbled" by anything) is not exactly a new idea, as a film as venerable as Of Mice and Men might indicate. The film's subplot of Zak wanting to be a professional wrestling star certainly gives this film a unique "goal", and the last act is arguably on both the silly and disturbing sides, as Tyler manages to get Zak to a camp of sorts run by Zak's all time wrestling hero, who goes by the name The Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church). Even that element has its own weird charm, but Nilson and Schwartz also try to shoehorn Eleanor into the story, to sometimes inconsistent effect. She kind of just shows up randomly in another "meet cute" part way through the tale (after Zak and Tyler are already on the lam), and then joins the boys, slowly discovering her interest in the pair may be drifting more toward Tyler as an object of romantic affection rather than Zak as someone who needs protecting.

If parts of The Peanut Butter Falcon may therefore strike some viewers as being overly contrived, the film still manages to pack a rather sizable emotional wallop from the strength of its focal trio of performance. LaBoeuf has always had a kind of interesting screen persona, one which can at least occasionally seem to tip over into snark, but he’s rather touching here as a man with some massive emotional wounds who finds himself in the odd position of having to “shepherd” someone like Zak. Johnson does what she can with a role that just seems to be there because someone decided the film needed a woman, but young Gottsagen is really impressive as Zak, bringing a wide eyed wonder but also a kind of unexpected wisdom to his characterization. I personally wouldn’t be surprised if Gottsagen is one of the finalists for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award when the nominations are announced in a few weeks.

The Peanut Butter Falcon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Peanut Butter Falcon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb doesn't list any technical data on the shoot, but I was able to find this rather interesting article listing cameras and lenses used for various films entered into competition or screened at SXSW, which includes a short but information interview with The Peanut Butter Falcon's director of photography Nigel Bluck, where he discusses using Arri Alexas. Bluck also details some interesting information about lenses and lighting which some readers may find helpful in understanding the kind of dewy ambience that is often on display here, especially in the many outdoor scenes that feature midrange or wide framings. The emphasis on natural or naturalistic lighting regimens actually can give some of the outdoor material here just an ever so slightly blanched look, with skies tending to look pale blue, for example, rather than deeply saturated, and some of the marshland regions looking a bit on the dirty green side at times. Detail levels are generally very good in almost all of the outdoor scenes, despite a kind of grayish tone underlying a lot of the imagery. Some interior scenes, as in some of the establishing sequences early in the film in the retirement home, or, later, some nighttime material, don't offer a wealth of fine detail, and blacks can look a little on the milky side at times,

The Peanut Butter Falcon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Peanut Butter Falcon features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that offers some beautifully rendered surround activity in some of the expansive outdoor material especially. Everything from some gentle lapping of water to more nefarious sounds of approaching speedboats (in one of the film's more frightening sequences) wafts through the side and rear channels realistically. The film features a kind of jangly, rootsy score that also resides quite comfortably in the surround channels and sounds great. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout on this problem free track.

The Peanut Butter Falcon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Zack's Story: The Making of The Peanut Butter Falcon (1080p; 6:00) profiles the film's co-star and his part in the genesis of the project. There are some good if brief interviews with various people included.


• Images from The Peanut Butter Falcon (1080p; 1:13)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:38)

The Peanut Butter Falcon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Making Of featurette included on this disc as a supplement, as brief as it is, gets into the interesting if probably understandable dearth of film roles for actors with Down Syndrome, but one of the most beautiful things about Gottsagen's work in this film is, as illogical as it may sound, you almost forget he's "differently abled", and instead just give in to the character's cheery optimism that something as "crazy" as a professional wrestling career might actually be a possibility for him. I'm not entire sure the film's final third or so really ends up working very well, but nonetheless this is a "road picture" with significant heart, and my hunch is only the most jaded viewer will be able to get through it without some kind of lump in the throat. Technical merits are solid, and The Peanut Butter Falcon comes Highly recommended.