Swiss Army Man (2016)

hyped garbage

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Swiss Army Man is a movie best summarized by a quote from the directors: "The first fart will make you laugh, the last fart will make you cry." The film tells the story of Hank Thompson, a depressed man stranded on an island whose life is changed when he discovers a dead body with the ability to aid him in survival. The film follows Hank and Manny (the dead body) as they develop a friendship and discover what makes life worth living.The first five minutes of the film are a bit silly and weird, but once you get used to the concept, the film turns into a beautiful story of friendship. The movie is not afraid to play around with its tone. Sometimes the film feels fun and hilarious, filled with montages and music. Other moments take a more serious tone, commenting on bullying, social norms, and suicide. Surprisingly, this works very well.On a technical level, Swiss Army Man is beautiful to both listen and look at. The soundtrack for the film, written by Andy Hull and Robert McDowell, is used beautifully to capture the emotions of the characters. The cinematography is vibrantly shot, utilizing reds, blues, and greens to compose wonderful visuals. Even the set design is delightful despite the film taking place primarily in the woods.Both Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe give fantastic performances. Dano and Radcliffe have terrific chemistry, making their characters' relationship feel genuine. Radcliffe is hilarious as a dead body. What he does with his face and body is impressive; he makes himself look dead, but still full of emotion. Their performances are what drives the movie and makes this ridiculous concept work.Despite making fart and dick jokes, the film is not afraid to comment on topics such as conformity, exclusion, self-love, and being yourself. This film is best seen blind. The trailer does not give justice to this wonderfully original, touching film.The Good -Amazing soundtrack -Fantastic performances from Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe -Heart warming -Creative story -Hilarious -Takes risks that pay off -Easily relatable characters -Powerful symbolism and messageThe Bad -The ending can be confusing on first viewing

A hopeless man stranded on a deserted island befriends a dead body and together they go on a surreal journey to get home. Swiss Army Man is way too crazy and unfortunately it's so crazy that is hard to even have fun with it. Dano and Radcliffe weren't that good either and it's sad seeing Harry Potter taking weird roles like that for no reason at all. The movie is weird, boring and unfortunately not quite fun as it tries to be or as fun as it should have been in general. Definitely a huge and stupid disappointing indie flick for sure. (0/10)

The best funniest movie i have ever seen. It is a must watch

Without spoiling anything that's not in the synopsis, the film opens with our main character on a desert island, about to hang himself out of desperation -- when a dead body suddenly washes up on shore and causes him to reconsider. Okay... that was unexpected and I wanted to see where this was going. As the film's upbeat opening credits montage rolls, we see that the dead guy provides our protagonist with an unexpected use. By this point, I was already guessing that based on the film's title, the dead man would provide other survival-related functions, a bit like a Swiss Army Knife. Cool. Okay, so that having been established, what's next? Well, as it happens, not a whole lot. And that's a shame.As a 10-minute short film, SAM could have worked -- but as a feature-length film, it just drags and drags. I'd already read some reviews, including the one in my local (major city) newspaper, and was aware this film wasn't for everyone. But the paper's respected reviewer gave this film 3 stars out of 4 and closed by saying, "all bets are off as to where this story is headed. But it's impossible not to get caught up in it, even if you're simultaneously repelled by it." -- though after the 20-minute mark, that couldn't be any *further* from the truth. After enduring the film first 30 minutes and wondering "Is this going somewhere?" (the protagonist wasn't), we gave it another 10 minutes, then agreed to switch it off. And that's something we very rarely do -- like once or twice every 5 years, maybe.The next day, having looked through the "Ordered By: Helpfulness" reviews here on IMDb and seen so many high ratings and positive reviews , I decided to continue the movie, solo. I'm open minded, and no, I wasn't repulsed. But I also wasn't amused, entertained, or interested in any of the characters. I didn't find it at all "intelligent", as I'd seen some reviewers say, I didn't find anything redeeming about it, other than those first few opening minutes.Without spoiling the ending, the last 13 minutes of the film are so contrived that if you weren't already saying "This is stupid!", then you have no excuse not to be now. And not surprisingly, the movie even ends with a fizzle.Is Swiss Army Man unique? Sure. Is it worth watching? Most definitely not. If you do choose to watch it, well, you were warned!