If only this film had been willing to release us from the grasp of its main character for the last 10 minutes or so, I'd be convinced of its greatness like so many are. For much of the running time of
Swiss Army Man, we are invited on a Gondry-esque journey of creativity and in-camera filmmaking bravura, entirely leaving behind any obligation to tell a coherent story or even tip off where we're headed. But unfortunately, a lack of commitment to where DANIELS (how these two filmmakers are credited and
have branded themselves, which seems like the least strange part of all this somehow) choose to end the proceedings essentially ruined things for me:
Dano's character has obviously been in/near the backyard and surrounding area of Winstead's suburban home for the entirely of the film, hallucinating that he's been shipwrecked, and there is reason to believe he's a pretty dangerous stalker. Once he stumbles upon a corpse (or worse?), he finds some kind of respite and way to talk out his guilt for his unusual behavior, but also a way of indulging it, involving his play-acting with the corpse in his obsession and going even further with his troublesome fantasies.
Where DANIELS fail, in my view, is in keeping us in Dano's orbit even once the spell is broken and we've returned to the real world - showing people who're impressed or even heartened by Radcliffe and Dano's shenanigans up to the final credits in slow motion, doubling down on the fart gag that was always the weakest element of the film to begin with. If the final 15 minutes or so of this film isn't an endorsement of being an obsessive stalker of an innocent woman, it certainly doesn't seem to have much interest in taking that seriously, as much as Winstead makes a case in her reactions to Dano that what we're seeing is genuinely fucked up. Yes, this could just be seen as a more twisted, perverse way to end the film - but it's also much less impactful than simply snapping the viewer out of it and playing things straight for the remainder of its runtime. That, to me, would be exciting filmmaking, and a great way of pulling the rug out from something that now, in retrospect, is sort of embarrassing to have been enjoying so much up to that point.
In other words,
Swiss Army Man is a pretty good film and a special little thing, but it could've been so much more. When the reactions to something this unique have been either rapture or repulsion, it feels very strange to be stuck in the middle.