Swiss Army Man

Sometimes, it is easy to describe the plot of a movie. Swiss Army Man is Cast Away crossed with Weekend at Bernie's. A man (Paul Dano), stranded, possibly, on a desert island, is trying to commit suicide when he notices a body washed up on the beach. The body, played by Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, is dead. As Charles Dickens said, "There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate." The dead body does have some superpowers related to the gases forming in the body as it decomposes. In Cast Away, as Tom Hanks starts to lose it, he befriends and talks to his volleyball, Wilson. Similarly, in Swiss Army Man, the dead body begins to come to life and becomes a friend to Paul Dano.

Dano's charater is batshit crazy so we don't believe that the body is actually alive anymore than Wilson the volleyball was alive. Nevertheless, Dano and the body set off to find their way home, inspired by the woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) whose picture is on Dano's phone. Dano keeps checking for a cell signal even though his charge is only at 10%, and the body, Dano's alter ego, becomes obsessed with the woman, who Dano had loved from afar.

All of this is in the trailers for the movie, but I won't say more about what happens. No spoilers. Paul Dano has made a career playing slightly crazed characters, most recently, an actor about to play Hitler in Youth, the Beach Boy's Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy, and a sadistic plantation owner in 12 Years a Slave. Daniel Radcliffe forever associated with Harry Potter has been trying, I think, to pick roles as far away from Hogwarts as possible. Both Dano and Radcliffe are great here. Swiss Army Man is an unusual movie, to say the least, and you just have to accept everything it throws at you including what comes shooting out of the dead body. And in the end, there is a resolution. We do find out what the reality is. And the dead body is alive in a certain way. So if you are tired of superheroes and sequels, you might want to go for something different and see Swiss Army Man.