I’ve seen some very bad movies lately, but Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Swiss Army Man is by far the worst of the year, a film so misguided, confused and insulting that I sat slack-jawed over what I was witnessing. While I’m sure the movie was made with the utmost conviction by its cast and crew and the filmmakers felt they were delivering a sincere albeit quirky examination of mental illness, the end result is so off the mark one can’t help but wonder if all involved subscribed to the same group delusion as to its quality and purpose.
The film wastes little time throwing us into its awkward premise as we’re greeted with the sight of a bedraggled young man in the process of hanging himself. Seems Hank’s (Paul Dano) been stranded on a desert isle for an indeterminate amount of time and has literally and figuratively reached the end of his rope. However, what stops him from taking that fatal step into eternity is the sight of a dead body that’s washed up on shore. He comes to name him Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) and he soon finds that this bloated corpse has many purposes, all of which will help him return to the mainland. Chief among them is the enormous amount of gas that’s built up in the body, so much that when Hank pushes down on Manny, his body is propelled through the water. Yep, before you know it, he’s riding a cadaver jet ski across the waves, propelled by farts.
Inspired it ain’t, as Kwan and Scheinert’s script relies so much on scatological humor that it becomes impossible to take anything in the film seriously. Not only does Manny provide a means of propulsive transportation, but his soaked lungs end up being a water source for Hank, his privates serve as a compass and he’s the best sounding board you could ever want.
It becomes obvious early on that Hank is unbalanced and that Manny is a metaphor for a great many confused conceits – the child he once was, the man he hopes to become, a representation of all of his angst – as the corpse’s role changes from one scene to the next. Equally troubling are the many incredible circumstances and coincidences we’re expected to swallow as Hank drags Manny back to civilization. While much of what we see takes place in Hank’s head, the things he does manage to pull off on his sloooowwww trip back to civilization defies belief. This approach guarantees that the would-be poignant climax falls flat on its face.
All of this culminates in a finale that’s supposed to create sympathy for the mentally ill but succeeds in only making a mockery of those who suffer from a variety of psychological ailments. Kwan and Scheinert’s self-aware, hipster tone ensures that their message gets lost in their quest to be ironic and oh so cool. As a result, an opportunity to shine a light on an issue that needs as much honest discussion as possible is wasted, the result being an immature take on a serious subject. Swiss Army Man employs a wide variety of methods to make its point but in the end, winds up being a multi-purpose disaster.
Contact Chuck Koplinski at [email protected].
