According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, the word "weird" means "very strange and unusual, unexpected, or not natural". However, most people use the word as a way to demean and dismiss anything that they don't agree with, understand or are not a part of, the implication being something like "everything that I do, say and think is normal, but everything different from that is just weird." In short, the proper use of "weird" is for things ranging from the unusual to the unnatural, but things that are simply different from a given individual's experience don't quite qualify. Now, having made that distinction, I'm here to tell you that "Swiss Army Man" (R, 1:37) fits any and every definition of "weird".
Hank (Paul Dano) has somehow become shipwrecked on some isolated beach and doesn't seem to have any idea where he is. We don't know how long he has been there, but when we first see him, he is in such a state of extreme despair that he is preparing to hang himself. But before he gets a chance to do his death dance, he spots someone else washed up on the shore. He runs to see if the person is still alive. He's not. Well, he's unresponsive anyway
until he starts farting. In fact, this corpse farts so much and with such force that Hank can ride the corpse like a jet ski to another nearby beach. No kidding.
Even though Hank still doesn't know where he is, he credits the corpse with saving his life (at least for the time being), so he drags the flatulent fellow to shelter. The two of them spend the night in a cave, as it rains outside. Hank finds a cup and tries to catch rain water with it, but the cup has a hole in it. The corpse's mouth, which has been agape all night, has also caught some of the rain water. In the morning, Hank discovers that pressing on the corpse's belly makes that water gush from its mouth. Hank drinks.
Then the corpse begins to speak! It's only mumbling at first, but then the words becoming clearer and Hank begins conversing with the corpse, whom he calls Manny (and is played by Daniel Radcliff). Manny talks while staring off into space and he doesn't seem to understand more than a small child, so most of these conversations involve Hank trying to answer Manny's simple questions and trying to teach Manny about life. The two of them talk about things like farting, pooping, families, women and *.
Manny can't walk, so Hank alternately straps Manny to his back and drags Manny on a stretcher, as Hank keeps the two of them moving forward in an attempt to find someone who can help them. Soon, Hank learns that Manny can do more than spew drinking water from his mouth and propel the two of them through the water (and even into the air) with his farts. Manny can chop wood with his hand, cut rope with his teeth and can even shoot things out of his mouth with enough force to kill forest creatures that can then be cooked and eaten. Like the time-honored multi-purpose tool of the film's name, Manny has many potentially life-saving uses. Oh, and when he sees a picture of a woman, he gets an erection which stretches out his pants and points the way towards
somewhere, and Hank wants to go there.
"Swiss Army Man" is one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen, and not in a good way. I appreciate creativity and originality in movies and I do my best to respect a given filmmaker's vision, even if it's not my style, but this movie is unnecessarily bizarre. Still, there is a point to this film's strangeness. It's about friendship, accepting yourself for who you are, appreciating all aspects of life, yada, yada, yada. These are all great messages, but we've seen them portrayed many times before in movies that were original, but more entertaining and definitely less crude and less
odd. This movie deserves points for creativity and some positive messages, but it's just too damned weird for me to recommend it. "D"
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