The Peanut Butter Falcon

Written and Directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz

Rating: 🏆 most excellent

A broken hearted outlaw, a runaway with Down syndrome, and a worried care taker all end up on the adventure of a lifetime that leads to a rundown wrestling academy in Aden, North Carolina. 

I LOVED THIS MOVIE! First of all, the cinematography is gorgeous and will have you wanting to hit east coast barrier islands immediately (or after hurricane season😬). The characters are tragic and complex and they restored my faith in humanity. Shia LeBeouf reminded me why he’s one of my favorite actors with his very raw performance, and amazing on screen chemistry with co-stars Dakota Johnson and Zack Gottsagen. A theme of the film is how to treat differently abled people. There’s the obvious, don’t be an *sshole, but there’s also a beautiful questioning of how much you should do for them, and how much you should empower them to take care of themselves. At its essence this film portrays that kindhearted people come in all shapes and sizes and true friendships can form between unlikely pairings when compassion and authenticity are valued. 

Review written by Zianna Weston