Several years before Everything Everywhere All at Once cleaned up at the Oscars, winning best picture and director, among numerous others, directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan (also known simply as the Daniels) made their feature length debut in 2016 with Swiss Army Man, and it’s one of the best films you’ve likely never seen. And you can now check it out for free on Tubi
. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, who became known for taking weirder roles in his post-Harry Potter years, the film centers on Hank (Paul Dano, The Fabelmans, There Will Be Blood), who is stranded on a desert island. Hopeless, Hank is about to hang himself when he notices a corpse, played by Radcliffe, washed up on the beach. He attempts to resuscitate the body, but finds it will only fart.
But then, something magical and utterly ludicrous happens: the corpse’s flatulence propels it on the surface of the water like a jet ski, allowing Hank to ride the corpse across the ocean, escaping the island. From there, a close friendship emerges, and more bodily humor ensues, as the pair continue their journey back home. The corpse eventually gains the ability to speak, and goes by the name Manny.
Swiss Army Man is by turns gross, hilarious, philosophical, surreal, and heartwarming. There’s real chemistry between Radcliffe and Dano, and you really find yourself rooting for them to succeed. The actors both deliver terrific performances, the writing and directing by the Daniels are top-notch, and overall the film is a joy to watch.
‘Swiss Army Man’ Is a Difficult Film to Classify, And That’s a Good Thing
Critically speaking, Swiss Army Man fared pretty well upon its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a score of 73 percent (the audience score is only slightly lower, at 72), with the critical consensus reading, “Disarmingly odd and thoroughly well-acted, Swiss Army Man offers adventurous viewers an experience as rewarding as it is impossible to categorize.” Some may be put off by such a description, but for others, something odd and unclassifiable will be right up their alley.
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In his positive review for RogerEbert.com, Matt Zoller Seitz echoes the sentiment that Swiss Army Man is a uniquely singular cinematic experience. He writes that the film “is such a Frankenstein-like amalgam of bits and pieces… that you can’t fairly describe it as being entirely ‘like’ any one thing.” He also calls it “Terrence Malick’s Weekend at Bernie’s,” which is a hilariously apt description, and further compares it to the works of Spike Jonze and the late David Lynch. If you were blown away by Everything Everywhere All at Once, or if you just love the quirky and surreal, do yourself a favor and check out Swiss Army Man now on free streaming platform, Tubi.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
