Quick Reviews: Swiss Army Man (2016)

Well, lots of people walked out of this one at Cannes, so it must be good!  Let's see....

A depressed man stranded on an Island (Dano) is finally giving up on life when...

He gets a companion.  Unfortunately, said companion is already dead.

Instead of letting this get him down, Dano gets hope when he figures out that the gas escaping the corpse's body allowed him to....ride him like a Jet Ski.

After that craziness, we get long, drawn out bits with Dano and the corpse (Daniel Radcliffe).  The Corpse seems to talk, albeit in Dano's voice.

A famous Writer once said that you hook or lose the audience in the first 15 minutes.  This is a good example.

Will he make a new life for himself and his 'friend?'

Or will he just go crazy?  To find out, watch the Film.

This would be a good Short Film.  Swiss Army Man is just too long for the way it is supposed to work.  By starting cold with Dano, we have no idea who he is or any feel for him.  He's just some guy on an Island that finds a corpse.  If I cared before the corpse arrived, this might work better.  On top of that, the long Scenes of 'conversations' just aren't interesting or funny enough.  The wacky stuff with the corpse (when was the last time I used that sentence beginning?!?) are kind of funny, but spread so thin that I just lost interest.  This would seriously be a good Short Film between 15-30 minutes- 45 tops.  It just didn't do it for me.  I applaud the creativity, but not the execution.  Don't expect this one to take off with most people...

Creative, but too long and not interesting enough in the follow-through.  Both too crazy and not crazy enough.