This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
"Swiss Army Man"
U.S. Dramatic Competition
HH
Deep thoughts and fart jokes battle it out in the surreal comedy-drama "Swiss Army Man," with neither side able to declare victory. Hank (Paul Dano) is stranded on a desert island and about to commit suicide when he sees a body wash up on his beach. The body (Daniel Radcliffe, giving an amazing physical performance) is still chemically active, and its methane emissions allow Hank to ride the body like a jetski to a possibly inhabited land mass. Thus begins a strange story of survival, in which Hank finds many uses for the body — water fountain, wood splitter, shaving kit — and is surprised when it is able to talk back to him. Hank and Manny (as he comes to call the body) then share adventures, and seemingly the same memories of a beautiful woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) one of them saw on a bus. The music-video directing team known as the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) spin this odd premise into some clever visual gags, but they lose the handle on the story well before the frenetic finale that can't reconcile its highfalutin ambitions with its lowbrow humor. It's as if Michel Gondry ate a Werner Herzog movie and farted out this movie.
— Sean P. Means
"Swiss Army Man" will screen again at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival: Saturday, 6:15 p.m., The Grand Theatre, Salt Lake City; Sunday, 11:30 p.m., Prospector Square Theatre, Park City; Wednesday, noon, Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City; Friday, Jan. 29, 9 p.m., Sundance Mountain Resort Screening Room; Saturday, Jan. 30, 11:15 a.m., The MARC, Park City.