Swiss Army Man (2016) review

Stranded on a deserted island and prepared to take his own life, Hank (Paul Dano) notices the corpse of another man, Manny (Daniel Radcliffe), wash up on the shore ... as it turns out Manny's quite a useful dead body, with the ability to turn into a jet ski by passing gas, collect rainwater, act as a canteen and use his erections to point in the direction of civilization (my erections only lead me to bad places, but that's another matter). I often criticize filmmakers for not taking enough chances or being daring ... and here the two Daniels risk a lot: they try to turn it into a meditative piece about loneliness and poor life decisions but the puerile humor works against it (it's hard to take somber thoughts seriously with fart noises and jerk off jokes) and the middle act lags considerably. I'm not sure what to make of the muddled third act, either - it leaves too many unanswered questions - but Dano and Radcliffe unflinchingly commit to the nonsense, and it winds up not being a complete disaster: expect to see this one in the Cult Movies canon several years from now.