Sundance 2016 – Swiss Army Man

If you ever wanted to see Paul Dano ride Daniel Radcliffe like a dolphin through a large body of water as Radcliffe uses his rocket-like farts to power them forward, this is the movie for you!

The craziest thing about Swiss Army Man is that that part happens within the first two minutes of the film and is far from the craziest thing that happens in this movie.  This is as weird as it is original, and there is a lot of both.

Paul Dano plays Hank, a man who has lost all hope after being deserted on a tiny island.  When a dead body (Daniel Radcliffe) washes ashore, the two form an unlikely friendship and go on a journey that will change both of their lives.

I wish I could give away more about the plot, but that would ruin the insanity.  This movie is absolute bonkers.  The movie starts off with the dolphin-riding scene I mentioned at the beginning, then turns into a unique buddy comedy with a new twist, and then takes a complete 180 and goes places I never thought were possible in this movie, which includes Hank dressing up like a woman and the wild bear fight.  I wish the movie stayed either 100% weird of 100% buddy comedy, but the two mixing together was off-putting, as was the fact that the movie was one giant fart joke.  And if you think I’m joking about the fart joke, the director’s admitted during the film’s Q ‘n’ A that this started with a fart joke.  So there.

I do have to commend Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe for fully committing to this movie.  Dano, who is one cinema’s most underrated gems, gives yet another very good performance.  Radcliffe is doing a great job of separating himself from his “Harry Potter” fame, as he continues to do challenging roles that are far different than Potter and does very good in them.

Swiss Army Man is like the bastardized son of Cast Away (2001) and Weekend at Bernie’s (1989).  It is a bizarre, original buddy comedy that is more immature than most Adam Sandler films.  I can’t hate this movie because of its originality, but it did have me befuddled the whole time.  At the end of the film, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays the love interest (I guess?) in the movie, has the final words that sum up exactly how I felt while I was watching this movie, “What the fuck?”

MY RATING – 2/4

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