Movie · 2019 · Adventure, Comedy, Drama · 1h 37m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 7.3/10 (417.3K ratings)
Overview
A down-on-his-luck crab fisherman embarks on a journey to get a young man with Down syndrome to a professional wrestling school in rural North Carolina and away from the retirement home where he’s lived for the past two and a half years.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.3/10
IMDb: 7.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.85/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Metacritic: 70
TMDB: 7.4/10
Director
Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz
Production
Bona Fide Productions, Armory Films, 1993, Tvacom Film and TV
Cast
Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen, Dakota Johnson, Thomas Haden Church, John Hawkes, Bruce Dern, Jon Bernthal, Yelawolf, Wayne Dehart, Aurelian Smith Jr., Mick Foley, Ann Owens, Rob Thomas, Tim Zajaros, Jonathan D. Williams, Déjá Dee, Lee Spencer, Mark Helms, Michael Berthold, Bruce Henderson
Curator Review
Verdict
A warm, crowd-pleasing road movie with real heart, anchored by a winning lead performance and an unusually sincere sense of inclusion. It’s a little rough around the edges, but the kindness, humor, and emotional payoff make it easy to root for.
Best for
viewers who like feel-good indie dramedies
audiences looking for uplifting disability representation
fans of road-trip stories and found-family dynamics
people who enjoy gentle, sincere sports-movie energy
Skip if
you want sharp satire or heavy realism
you’re allergic to sentimental crowd-pleasers
you need tight plotting and polished continuity
you dislike movies built around earnest emotional uplift
Overview
The Peanut Butter Falcon is the kind of movie that knows exactly what it wants to be: a tender, funny, low-stakes journey about belonging, freedom, and the people who help us get there. It leans into familiar indie-road-movie rhythms, but the sincerity is hard to resist, and the central performance gives it a genuine emotional center rather than a manufactured one.
Worth noting
What makes it work is the chemistry between the leads and the film’s refusal to treat its protagonist as a lesson. It’s not subtle, and it can feel schematic at times, but the warmth is real. The wrestling angle adds a playful, mythic quality that keeps the story moving and gives the film a sense of adventure.
Bottom line
This is a good pick if you want something comforting without being empty, especially if you respond to found-family stories and underdog momentum. It may not convert viewers who are already skeptical of earnest indie uplift, but for the right audience it lands exactly as intended: like a sincere, restorative hug.
Top Letterboxd reviews
lizzy deane (4★) · 2571 likes
as long as there is someone out there like zak who will see this movie and feel like they're valid and just as much of a person as everyone else is, i don't wanna hear shit about how this is just some generic indie movie
maria (3.5★) · 2479 likes
a family doesn't have to be a wife, a husband, a daughter and a son, sometimes a family can be a crazy ass crab fisherman who burns class="h-100"2,000 worth of shit cause he got denied selling his stolen goods, a 22-year-old with down syndrome who runs away from his retirement home to purse his long time dream of becoming a wrestler and his uptight carer who is looking for him everywhere and so conveniently runs into both of them
Muriel · 1747 likes
the film embodiment of a hug
aaron (4.5★) · 1264 likes
what an utterly beautiful addition to the films that feel like warm hugs cinematic universe
demi adejuyigbe · 885 likes
if you ask my friends i watched the entire movie looking like that gif of Lenny at the awards show but inside i felt like a nice warm smile come to life! funny and nice and easy in a 2007 indie film kinda way, for better and worse! (give dakota johnson something interesting to do she deserves better)
2013 · Drama, Adventure · 1h 55m · R · Curator 8.5/10 (234.6K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus
A dryly funny, tender road film about family, stubbornness, and the emotional pull of a journey through rural America.