Steven Rubio's Online Life

10 things i hate about you (gil junger, 1999)

This is the thirty-third and final film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2023-24", "A 33 week long challenge where the goal each week is to watch a previously unseen feature length film from a specified category." This is the 9th annual challenge, and my fifth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", and "2022-23"). Week 33 is called "Party Like It's 1999 Week":

Capping off the 9th Annual Letterboxd Season Challenge with a celebration of what many consider the best movie year ever, 1999. If you haven't seen all the classics like The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, or Magnolia, now's a great time to catch up with them. And if you have, there are plenty of other gems to discover.

This week's challenge is to watch a film from 1999.

It's a bit odd to be celebrating the end of another Letterboxd Challenge here, because while this is indeed the end of the line, Week 33, I watched and wrote about 10 Things I Hate About You back in October. Anticipating a month in Spain in April, I watched the last five films in the Challenge long before our trip, knowing I wouldn't have the chance to watch them as they turned up on the Challenge calendar. So this post, and the four previous ones, are all post-dated.

I think I'm the wrong age/generation for this movie. It's about high-school kids in 1999, and I'm 70, and in 1999 I was 46. It's true that high school remains a common experience for many of us who grew up in the U.S. ... there are things we can identify with, no matter our age or generation. Nonetheless, I didn't connect with 10 Things I Hate About You, which is a take on The Taming of the Shrew. Certainly not the way I locked into Bottoms. Maybe it's the simple fact that 10 Things walks a line that allowed it to get a PG-13 rating, while Bottoms was aggressively R. The Kate stand-in (she's called Kat in this one) is never really a shrew. In fact, she's quite reasonable, although that means she's anti-social in the terms that high school works.

The movie introduces us to some actors who went on to impressive careers. Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles were up-and-comers in 1999. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was better known, since he had a regular role on a popular TV show, but like his co-stars, he was still young and in the early part of his career. All three are good in 10 Things. But the movie isn't much, although don't listen to me ... it did OK at the box office, and Stiles won an MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance. The soundtrack is good ... I'd play it before I watched this movie again. Ultimately, 10 Things I Hate About You is like a pilot episode for a TV series, and in fact, while it took 10 years, it did finally become a series.

A summary of my 9th Annual Challenge:

Best Movie: Secrets & Lies

Worst Movie: Inherit the Wind

Longest Movie: Secrets & Lies

Shortest Movie: Black Girl

Most Popular Movie: Call Me by Your Name

Most Obscure Movie: The Lady in Red

Most Highly-Regarded Movie: Secrets & Lies

Least Highly-Regarded Movie: Smile

african-american directors series: is that black enough for you ?!? (elvis mitchell, 2022)

This is the thirty-second film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2023-24", "A 33 week long challenge where the goal each week is to watch a previously unseen feature length film from a specified category." This is the 9th annual challenge, and my fifth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", and "2022-23"). Week 32 is called "Remembering Belafonte Week":

From pbs.org:

With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, [Harry] Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit "Banana Boat Song (Day-O)," and its call of "Day-O! Daaaaay-O." But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson’s decree that artists are "gatekeepers of truth."

He stands as the model and the epitome of the celebrity activist. Few kept up with Belafonte’s time and commitment and none his stature as a meeting point among Hollywood, Washington and the civil rights movement.

This week, your task is to watch a film starring Harry Belafonte as we mark the first anniversary of his passing. Whether as an actor, singer, or activist, Belafonte was a formidable force, and the world is made poorer by his absence, yet undoubtedly richer in the wake of his presence.

It's a bit of a cheat to use this documentary as "a film starring Harry Belafonte," although it appears on the list we are supplied, so it's not an official cheat. Belafonte is fairly prominent, both as an example of black cinema and as a commentator on cinema. But the driving force behind Black Enough is writer/director Elvis Mitchell. whose career as a film critic spans more than 40 years.

The films that Mitchell chooses to demonstrate how blackness was presented in films are the usual. Two things make Black Enough especially valuable. First, he has a good selection of commentators, not just Belafonte, but also people like Laurence Fishburne, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Margaret Avery, and Billy Dee Williams. Since Mitchell's primary focus is on the Black cinema of the 70s, he gives us Antonio Fargas, Glynn Turman, and others. There are behind the scenes people like director Charles Burnett and producer Suzanne De Passe. Even Zendaya turns up, saying "We have so many stories to tell. We just wanna see more of us existing in all different forms, and I think that is a common frustration, I think, amongst my peers. We just wanna see us just being kids or, like, in sci-fi, whatever."

It's Mitchell's take on 70s Black Cinema that is most important for the film. His vast knowledge of film matters, but he also shows a genuine affection for the movies and stars of the day that don't always get positive reactions. Pam Grier was almost a genre all by herself. Mitchell doesn't just show us Superfly, he talks about the sequels. And he discusses the more mainstream films of the day like Sounder and Lady Sings the Blues. There is a lot to learn from Black Enough, but Mitchell never talks down to his audience.

duel (steven spielberg, 1971)

This is the thirty-first film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2023-24", "A 33 week long challenge where the goal each week is to watch a previously unseen feature length film from a specified category." This is the 9th annual challenge, and my fifth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", and "2022-23"). Week 31 is called "Cut to the Chase Week":

Quick! What do Watergate, pet rocks, bell bottoms, roller skates, disco, and afros have in common? The 1970s! Do you know what else we got in the '70s? Nothing less than Jaws, Alien, Rocky, Taxi Driver, The Godfather, and Star Wars, that's what. But there's a little subsection of 1970s moviemaking you might not have thought to consider: The Golden Age of the Car Chase. The '70s was the decade for 'em. More violent, more exciting, and more real (shove off, CGI), the decade's car chases threw around unbelievable amounts of gasoline-propelled metal in raw, exhilarating ways and paved the way for such epic chases as those seen in Ronin, The Italian Job remake, the entire Fast and the Furious franchise, Death Proof, Drive, and Baby Driver, to name a few. So strap in, rev your engine, and hang on to your mutton chops—this week is gonna be a wild ride!

The challenge this week is to chase down and watch a movie from Karl Janssen's The Golden Age of Car Chase Films (1970s) list.

Pauline Kael once told a story about sitting around watching the Bela Lugosi Dracula with some academic friends. As the post-mortem conversation went:

We had begun to surprise each other by the affectionate, nostalgic tone of our mock erudition when the youngest person present, an instructor in English, said, in clear, firm tone, "The Beast with Five Fingers is the greatest horror picture I've ever seen." Stunned that so bright a young man could display such shocking taste, preferring a Warner, Brothers forties mediocrity to the classics, I gasped, "But why?" And he answered, "Because it's completely irrational. It doesn't make any sense, and that's the true terror."

Duel makes no sense. And that's the true terror.

It's worth noting that Duel is indeed a tense picture, something of a small masterpiece, stripped to its essentials. (This may have been even more true in its original form as a TV movie, since 16 minutes were later added by Spielberg for its theatrical release.) I think its reputation is greater than it might deserve, because it's called Spielberg's first feature and in many ways it is recognizably his. (It ranks #959 on the They Shoot Pictures, Don't They list of the top 1000 films of all time.) Duel is good, Duel is efficient, Duel shows a promising film maker, but his next (first theatrical) feature, The Sugarland Express, is a better movie.

inherit the wind (stanley kramer, 1960)

This is the thirtieth film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2023-24", "A 33 week long challenge where the goal each week is to watch a previously unseen feature length film from a specified category." This is the 9th annual challenge, and my fifth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", and "2022-23"). Week 30 is called "Classic Performers: Frederic March Week":

Celebrated film and stage actor Fredric March was born in Wisconsin in 1897. He began his career as an extra before making his debut in 1929's The Dummy. A year later he earned his first of five Oscar nominations for The Royal Family of Broadway. His accolades include two Oscars (for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Best Years of Our Lives), two Best Actor awards at the Venice Film Festival, and a Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival. He is also one of only two actors, along with Helen Hayes, to win two Oscars and two Tony awards.

This week's challenge is to watch a film starring Fredric March.

I have a personal connection to Inherit the Wind. In high school, I played Matthew Brady, the William Jennings Bryan stand-in. I wondered if I would remember any of his lines, 50+ years after the fact, but alas, those brain cells are gone.

There's a problem with this movie, and its name is Stanley Kramer. Kramer was nominated nine times for Oscars, six as a producer of Best Picture nominees, and three nominations as Best Director. He won none of those, but it's a sign of the high regard for Kramer that he was nominated so frequently. Perhaps most appropriately, in 1961 he received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, given for "creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production." The year after Kramer's death, the Producers Guild of America created the Stanley Kramer Award, given to "a production, producer, or other individuals whose achievement or contribution illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues."

Important social issues ... these things interested Kramer, inspired much of his work in film. His movies, as producer and director, included The Defiant Ones, about two escaped convicts, one black, one white, who must learn to move beyond racial animus. On the Beach took place at the end of the world after nuclear war, and was hailed by Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling as "the movie that saved the world". There was Judgment at Nuremberg, which fictionalized the Nazi trials at Nuremberg, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, about interracial marriage. All important social issues, which are supposed to imply important movies. One feels a bit embarrassed at complaining about the quality of Kramer's films ... isn't it enough that he made them?

And so, Inherit the Wind, based on a stage play that dramatized the Scopes "Monkey Trial". A high-school teacher in Tennessee taught evolution in the classroom, which was illegal at the time in Tennessee. The actual trial was purposeful, intended to showcase the problems with the law. A national brouhaha ensued, with three-time Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan joining the prosecution, while famed lawyer Clarence Darrow took part in Scopes' defense. The highlight of the trial came when Darrow put Bryan on the stand to essentially defend the Bible.

There is a lot of drama inherent in this story, and it's hard to screw it up too much. I imagine even our little 11th-grade production was fairly engrossing. If it was just a courtroom drama with some added interest from the based-on-truth story and big-name lawyers, Inherit the Wind would be tolerably good. But it's not just a courtroom drama ... Kramer was perhaps unable to just make such a movie. No, it had to have a Big Theme about an Important Social Issue. And then everything had to be simplified, so that Scopes/Darrow were always in the right, and Bryan and the fundamentalists are wrong. Darrow (in the play/film, the character is named Drummond ... Bryan becomes Brady) shows how right he is by showing with manganous brilliance that he is not perfect, that he knows that Bryan/Brady is a decent guy. This is used to make the character seem to have depth, but it's phony.

Spencer Tracy plays Drummond effectively, but he doesn't break a sweat (in-joke, since everyone sweats during the movie). Fredric March overplays as Brady, and the part is written that way ... I wouldn't be surprised if I overplayed back in high school. But March's makeup is awful ... it looks like they hired a high-school student for the job. The battle over what can be taught in schools still remains sadly relevant in this country, which means Inherit the Wind is as relevant as ever, for what that's worth.

film fatales #203: the beguiled (sofia coppola, 2017)

This is the twenty-ninth film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2023-24", "A 33 week long challenge where the goal each week is to watch a previously unseen feature length film from a specified category." This is the 9th annual challenge, and my fifth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", and "2022-23"). Week 29 is called "'We Come to This Place for Magic' Week":

We come to LSC Theaters to laugh, to cry, to care. Because we need that, all of us. That indescribable feeling we get when the lights begin to dim, and we go somewhere we've never been before. Not just entertained, but somehow reborn, together. Dazzling images on a huge silver screen, sound that I can feel. Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this. Our heroes feel like the best parts of us, and stories feel perfect and powerful. Because here, they are. LSC Theaters: We Make Movies Better.

This week's challenge is to watch a film either starring Nicole Kidman or set in a movie theater.

For those of you who don't go to AMC Theaters, here is the inspiration for this week's challenge:

Sofia Coppola makes some interesting decisions when making her version of The Beguiled. She returned to the original novel, stating her movie was not a direct remake of the 1971 version with Clint Eastwood (a movie I apparently saw and didn't like ... according to the IMDB, I rated it 5/10 but I have no memory of this and as far as I can tell I have never written about it). There is a slave in the novel and '71 film that is the only person of color in either ... I'm not certain I understand her reasoning, but Coppola removed this character from the story ("(y)oung girls watch my films and this was not the depiction of an African American character I would want to show them."). Coppola and cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd opted for a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, slightly different from today's standards, to make the movie look claustrophobic. Perhaps most important, Coppola chose to tell this story of a wounded soldier during the Civil War who ends up at a girls school in Virginia from the point of view of the women.

As I say, these are interesting decisions. But in the end, I didn't care for the movie despite those decisions. There's nothing I can put my finger on, but neither could I figure out why this story was being told. It is entirely possible that it's all on me; there is nothing "wrong" with The Beguiled.

black girl (ousmane sembène, 1966)

This is the twenty-eighth film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2023-24", "A 33 week long challenge where the goal each week is to watch a previously unseen feature length film from a specified category." This is the 9th annual challenge, and my fifth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", and "2022-23"). Week 28 is called "World Cinema Project Week":

Martin Scorsese founded the World Cinema project in 2007 with the goal of preserving and restoring films from around the globe that otherwise would become neglected. They focus on films that do not get a lot of exposure in the West and that are at risk of becoming lost because of the lack of resources some countries have to preserve their own films. They continue to work on this endeavor to this day, so far ensuring that 54 films from 30 different countries have been preserved and accessible to a global audience through screenings, Criterion boxsets with 24 of the films on DVD and Blu-ray, and through streaming on the Criterion Channel.

Whether you’re Marching Around the World this month or not, let’s all enjoy one of the films preserved by the World Cinema Project and remember how inaccessible the voices and perspective of people around the world can be for even the most avid moviegoer. Michael Hutchins maintains an up-to-date list here.

Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project is one of the great gifts the celebrated director has given the film world. I've seen a handful of the films on the above list and most of them have been very good, with one classic-to-me, Buñuel's Los Olvidados. Black Girl is a perfect example of the treasures to be uncovered in the project. Ousmane Sembène was an esteemed writer from Senegal who wanted to expand his audience by making films. After two shorts, he wrote and directed Black Girl, which became known as the first Sub-Saharan African film to get attention worldwide. It tells the story of a Senegalese woman, Diouana, who gets a job with a white French couple, who later take her with them to France. Sembène uses a complex narrative structure that bounces between the present and Diouana's past life back in Senegal.

The essential examination in Black Girl is of colonialism and race, but Sembène draws a sensitive performance from first-time actor Mbissine Thérèse Diop as Diouana that personalizes the story even as it points to how colonialism affects its victims. The film is short, but the story of Diouana feels extensive, and ultimately heartbreaking. Sembène pulls no punches. #272 on the They Shoot Pictures, Don't They list of the top 1000 films of all time.

the scar (krzysztof kieślowski, 1976)

This is the twenty-seventh film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2023-24", "A 33 week long challenge where the goal each week is to watch a previously unseen feature length film from a specified category." This is the 9th annual challenge, and my fifth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", and "2022-23"). Week 27 is called "Morally Anxious Week":

The Cinema of Moral Anxiety Movement was a brief period in Polish film history. Films from this movement portrayed the moral anxiety felt during the Communist regime in Poland. It was abruptly stopped by the introduction of martial law in 1981, although bans and censorship delayed the release of some films made during the period, like Blind Chance or Interrogation, until the late '80s.

This week's challenge is to watch a film from the Cinema of Moral Anxiety Movement. This list is a helpful reference.

Another example of the joys of the Challenge, which exposes you to things you would never have seen otherwise. Before this, I hadn't watched a single movie from the Cinema of Moral Anxiety Movement. Let's be honest, I never heard of the Movement. I had seen films by Krzysztof Kieślowski (this was my fifth ... I usually like them, but haven't found any to be classics). The Scar was Kieślowski's first "theatrical" feature, which means he had directed a feature for television, and had also created numerous documentaries.

The Scar has the look of a documentary, and its subject matter is realist. The Communist Party has decided to build a chemical factory. Conflict arises because the townspeople feel left out of the decision-making process, and while long-term progress seems possible, the people suffer from relocation and other problems associated with "progress". The personal angle comes with a focus on Stefan Bednarz, a former resident who is put in charge of the work. He has something of a conscience, and he has a wife who refuses to return to the town. It's all interesting in a low-key way. Once again, watching a Kieślowski film, I like it but I don't love it.

film fatales #199: twilight (catherine hardwicke, 2008)

This is the twenty-sixth film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2023-24", "A 33 week long challenge where the goal each week is to watch a previously unseen feature length film from a specified category." This is the 9th annual challenge, and my fifth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", and "2022-23"). Week 26 is called "Carter Burwell Week":

A movie’s score can have an incredible impact on the success of the film, contributing to the tone and atmosphere of a scene, while also connecting to an audience in such a visceral way that can elevate a viewer’s feelings of a story or a character and overall enjoyment of the film altogether. Carter Burwell is one of the top film composers of our time, scoring every Coen Brothers movie except one, all of Martin McDonagh’s films, three of Spike Jonze’s films, three of Todd Hayne’s films and many, many more. Although he has written many memorable and intoxicating scores and been nominated for three Oscars, he has yet to win the golden statue.

This week let’s honor a composer that has not been honored with a win by many of the most prestigious film awards and watch a movie featuring a score composed by Carter Burwell. Working with so many fantastic filmmakers, there’s no shortage of great films to choose from.

Before this challenge, I couldn't have told you who Carter Burwell was, but it turns out I've seen like 3 dozen of his movies, including favorites like Fargo and Three Kings. I didn't really notice the score in Twilight, which isn't necessarily a bad thing ... it wasn't intrusive.

Catherine Hardwicke directed the interesting Thirteen, which she co-wrote with Nikki Reed (who appears in Twilight as one of the vampires). There is some suggestion that the people involved in the movie didn't know if it would be a success (Kristen Stewart said later, "If you'd told me we were going to make five Twilights when we did the first? I would not have believed you.") The Twilight series of novels by Stephenie Meyer were enormously successful, and I'd think a big audience for the films would be guaranteed. And, in fact, Twilight hit over $400 million worldwide at the box office, leading to four sequels.

Kristen Stewart is usually the best thing in her movies, but I haven't found any of them to be great films, and she was awful in Spencer. Same with Robert Pattinson: he's usually good, his movies are usually OK (but The Lighthouse was awful). They make a good team here, but once again, Twilight isn't a great movie. I am not the audience for it, though, and clearly it connects with a lot of people. The romance between human Bella and vampire Edward is like a scene out of In the Mood for Love ... they are in love, but they can't do anything about it. Hardwicke pours on the smoldering intensity:

I'm glad I finally caught up with this phenomenon, although I'm not inspired to watch the rest of the series. The best I can say for Twilight is that it wasn't awful.

film fatales #198: coda (siân heder, 2021)

This is the twenty-fifth film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2023-24", "A 33 week long challenge where the goal each week is to watch a previously unseen feature length film from a specified category." This is the 9th annual challenge, and my fifth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", and "2022-23"). Week 25 is called "Good for Her Week":

Here at the Letterboxd Season Challenge, we support women's rights as well as women's wrongs. To quote Claira Curtis, "Is there really anything better than thinking “good for her” while a woman achieves her dreams or receives an end to her story that is actually satisfying? NO!!!"

This week's challenge is to watch a film from Claira Curtis' "Good for Her" Cinematic Universe.

Along with awards for Best Supporting Actor Troy Kotsur and Best Adapted Screenplay for director Siân Heder, CODA won the Oscar for Best Picture. By now, I've seen all the nominees, and while CODA was not the Best Picture of 2021 (that would be Summer of Soul, which wasn't nominated), there was only one nominated movie I'd place clearly above CODA (Drive My Car). (There weren't many nominees that were clearly worse than CODA, as well ... I'm a fan of Licorice Pizza, but it's not great, and I'd say the same about others, like The Power of the Dog, West Side Story, and Don't Look Up ... only King Richard of the nominees was an embarrassment in such lofty company.) Yes, as always there were films ignored for Best Picture (Petite Maman, Flee, Judas and the Black Messiah), but CODA earned its consideration ... it's a fine film.

So I have no intention of damning CODA with faint praise ... it's a successful, feel-good movie. It's easy to underestimate it, because in many ways it adheres to a formula (young girl blossoms, is held back by circumstances, but triumphs in the end). But it's really good in its formulaic efforts ... you root for the girl, you root for her family, you get choked up with emotion at the end. And none of the emotions are cheaply elicited ... CODA affects us without pounding us with obvious tear-jerking moments.

Of course, the main difference here is the representation of deaf characters (title is an acronym for Children of Deaf Adults). The deaf characters are played by deaf actors ... Marlee Matlin we know (she is herself an Oscar winner), and Troy Kotsur won an Oscar for this film. These characters are one of the reasons CODA isn't merely formulaic.

Not everyone in the deaf community was happy with CODA, but as someone outside that community, I'd say the overall response was more positive than negative. But I admit, even as I was watching it and liking it, I never thought I was watching a classic. OK, you're a fool if you think a Best Picture Oscar signifies a great movie, but I was surprised that CODA was good-not-great.

Young Emilia Jones was impressive as the girl ... she's new to me. CODA is worth seeing ... I don't want to suggest otherwise.

[Letterboxd list of my Top 15 Films of 2021]

the peanut butter falcon (tyler nilson and michael schwartz, 2019)

This is the twenty-fourth film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2023-24", "A 33 week long challenge where the goal each week is to watch a previously unseen feature length film from a specified category." This is the 9th annual challenge, and my fifth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", and "2022-23"). Week 24 is called "The Disabled Experience Week":

What does it mean to be disabled? The societal definition of disability has changed over the last century, encompassing a wider range of concepts and understanding. These shifts, unsurprisingly, have also found their way into movie-making. Where once films "othered" their subjects via unsympathetic depictions or overly melodramatic characterizations, the cinematic tide is slowly turning. Now, more than ever, we are beginning to see those with disabilities given agency and expression, with filmmakers resisting the tragic or heroic stereotypes towards which they once tended. Yet, achieving greater authenticity is difficult if the people you seek to portray have no involvement on either side of the camera. Greater inclusivity is—as in all other areas of film—fundamentally crucial but still severely lacking.

This week's challenge is to watch a movie about the disabled experience from either Brian Koukol ♿ 's 20 Essential Films Concerning The Disabled Experience list or Rikka's list, good films w good disabled rep. If none of those titles are available to you, take a look at dogunderwater's disabled characters portrayed by disabled actors list.

The casting of Zack Gottsagen, who has Down syndrome, to play Zak, a character with Down syndrome, is a welcome sign of inclusive casting. Gottsagen more than justifies the confidence of the film makers ... he is the best thing about The Peanut Butter Falcon. Writer/directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz avoid a lot of pitfalls, largely by making Zak a full character, without stereotypes, recognizing the complexities of the character without falling victim to making Zak too lovable or too pitiable or basically too anything. Zak is a person.

Shia LaBeouf is the main character, a marginal-to-society fisherman who takes Zak under his wing. LaBeouf has been in some good movies, and he's solid here, but there's something about him that makes me not like him, so it took me a long time to warm to his character. Dakota Johnson also has an important role, and the directors get some good performances throughout, especially the always-reliable John Hawkes, and even pro rasslers Mick Foley and Jake the Snake Roberts.

So there's a lot to praise about The Peanut Butter Falcon, and it's a heart-warming story for the whole family (among the Letterboxd lists people have placed it on are "Comfort Movies", "warm hug cinematic universe", and "u make me feel better". The problem is that there is nothing particularly special about the story or its presentation ... it references Huckleberry Finn, but doesn't do much with that. There is nothing different about the film, outside of the presence of Gottsagen. Which matters, and he is a welcome presence. You won't be sorry you watched The Peanut Butter Falcon, but I don't know that it's the kind of movie you'd return to time and again.