Zak runs away from his care home to make his dream of becoming a wrestler come true.
If you want to see a heartwarming, inspiring film that is also uplifting and funny, this is definitely it. “The Peanut Butter Falcon” tells the story of a beautiful friendship that forms between two seemingly different individuals that are actually very similar. Both feeling abandoned, they teach each other the courage to find their own journey.
Zak (Zack Gottsagen), who is down syndrome and idolizes a retired professional wrestler named Clint The Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church), dreams of going to his wrestling camp to train. Currently forced to live in a nursing home, Zak finally escapes in the middle of the night with the help of his roommate Carl (Bruce Dern). Not knowing where to run, he ends up near the docks where he witnesses Tyler (Shia LaBeouf) being beaten up by Duncan (John Hawkes) and his crew. Zak quickly hides in the back of Tyler’s boat not knowing that he would be a part of Tyler’s escape plan.
When Tyler realizes that Zak is on board, he calms him down so he doesn’t make noise and risk getting caught. As soon as he loses Duncan, he abandons the boat and Zak with fear of being slowed down. After hitching a ride into town, Tyler quickly returns upon discovering roadblocks ahead due to a search Duncan put out for him. He returns only to find Zak being bullied by local kids forcing him into the lake knowing he is unable to swim. Tyler saves Zak from drowning and their friendship begins.
With no transportation, Tyler and Zak head out on foot, avoiding the main roads where they can be easily found. Covering many miles on foot with little money, Tyler encounters a market but can only afford peanut butter to eat. He encounters Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), who works at the nursing home where Zak escaped and she asks Tyler if he has seen him. Tyler takes a liking to her but does not give Zak’s whereabouts and continues on his path. Desperate to be somebody, Zak shares his difficulties of overcoming being abandoned by his parents and ridiculed by his own teachers. Tyler has his own challenges as we discover that his brother died in a car accident and he was the one behind the wheel. Both Tyler and Zak both share the emptiness and longing for family.
Tyler helps Zak build his confidence and accept the fact that there are things he will never be able to do in life but to embrace the many things he can accomplish. Zak asks Tyler to help him train to wrestle and Tyler guides him through the exercises. One night, Tyler comes up with the idea to create an alter ego to help encourage Zak. He comes up with Falcon but after smearing peanut butter on his face as war paint, they come up with his wrestling stage name, The Peanut Butter Falcon. When Eleanor finally catches up to them, she tries to coerce Zak to come back to the nursing home and he refuses. Tired of being treated like a charity case, he tells her that he is going with Tyler to train at his idol’s wrestling camp.
Eleanor joins them on the journey which turns out to be an exciting mix of Zak finally meeting and being trained by Clint The Salt Water Redneck, Tyler getting caught by Duncan and Zak’s first wrestling match. This film does not disappoint, it has a beautiful storyline, the cast is magnetic and I want to mention that I haven’t seen Shia LaBeouf on the big screen in a while and I was simply impressed by his performance. You are going to really enjoy this film.
In Theaters Friday, August 9th
