These Are a Few of My Favorite Films: “Swiss Army Man”

If a movie is memorable enough, you tend to not only remember the events of the movie itself, but also where you were when you first watched it.
That said, I was 25 years old and about to see a Weird Al concert in person for the first time when I also got the chance to see “Swiss Army Man.” It wasn’t playing at any theaters near me, so, when I was going to drive up to Enid to go see Weird Al, I decided I would go out of my way to Oklahoma City to see this movie before the concert started. I had seen the trailer for the movie for months leading up to its release (primarily at theaters that ended up not even playing it), and I was so interested to see it.
One big way to find out if I loved a movie is if you have to ride in a car with me right after I see it, you’ll hear me talk about nothing but that movie for the entire car ride. My wife has heard me gush about movies for minutes to hours before (the ride home from “Infinity War” was a full 45 minutes of me freaking out in the best possible way), so this is no surprise to her anymore. When we left “Swiss Army Man” in OKC and drove to Enid, as excited as I was for Weird Al, I couldn’t shut up about the movie.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the film itself.

“Swiss Army Man” (2016)

Plot: When Hank (Paul Dano) is lost on an island, he is aided in his journey home by a talking corpse named Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) that has washed onto the shore. The two become friends as Hank tries to get back home.

Going into this movie, I knew it only as the movie about a farting corpse. That’s what the trailer presented me, and that’s what I was expecting. But “Swiss Army Man” is far more than that. That’s not to say that it doesn’t deliver on the farting corpse aspect, though. It’s such an odd film in that it has a lot to say about humanity while still providing fart jokes and other weird, infantile humor.
The movie is actually beautiful, and easily one of my favorites from the past few years.
Like I said, this movie has a lot to say about humanity, and what it has to say is pretty interesting. Over the film, Hank and Manny bond, and Hank has to teach Manny all about what it means to be human since Manny has no memories at all and acts childlike in his wonder about the world. There’s a recurring theme of Hank worrying about being weird, and worrying even about Manny being weird. Hank just wants to be normal.
And that’s what this movie is really, ultimately about. Hank wants to be normal, but, ultimately, realizes that, in the words of Debbie Reynolds as Aggie Cromwell, “Being normal is vastly overrated.” He learns to be his true self and to embrace the weirdness in himself, and all it takes is a talking, farting corpse to get him to that point.

The movie also makes a lot of other points about what it’s like to be human, with love and loss playing a big part of the whole film. Hank ran away from everything in his life because he felt unloved, and the one person he had any feelings for whatsoever…. well, that’s a spoiler that I’m not going to get into if you haven’t seen the movie.
But aside from the message the movie is getting across, it’s also just great because it makes you question what’s real. Is Hank crazy? Is this just a world where a farting, talking corpse can be used as a jet ski to get someone off of an island? That last part’s not a spoiler, by the way, since it happens within the first five minutes of the movie.

Even after having seen this film three times, I always find myself questioning exactly what is real in it. A good case could be made for both.
The best thing about none of it seeming real is that the movie is able to get away with some really insane things. Like everything that happens in the montage scene. And if you haven’t seen the movie (or if you already have and didn’t pay enough attention during that scene), the lyrics of the song that play over it describe everything that’s happening… including Hank using Manny as a machine gun to kill fish. All of the weird ways he uses Manny to get out of situations is interesting, and the directors find a way to not make the use of a dead body to drink water from look absolutely disgusting. I don’t know how they did it.
I’d also like to state before I wrap all of this up that the acting is phenomenal in this. Radcliffe really deserved more praise for his role, because he really does seem dead at points, and it’s kind of horrifying. But he’s also absolutely hilarious. And Paul Dano… well, I haven’t seen him give a bad performance ever, and this is no exception. He makes Hank feel real, like anyone you might know (or maybe you even relate to him in some weird way). The two of them really have to hold the bulk of the movie on their own, so if either hadn’t brought their A-game, the movie would have fallen flat.

“Swiss Army Man” isn’t just worth a watch, it’s worth two, three, four, five or even more. I feel like each time I’ve watched it, I’ve caught on to something that I didn’t quite notice the first time around. And with the way the movie ends, you’ll want to see it all over again just so you have a little bit more perspective.