12 Movies From 2016 That Were Unfairly Hated

Naturally, a film about a flatulent corpse isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but the directorial debut of Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert is so much more than an hour and a half’s worth of lowbrow fart jokes. Something that audience members might have recognised had many of them not walked out during Swiss Army Man’s premiere screening at Sundance. That isn’t to say that the movie hasn’t found a good few fans but its many middling reviews, plus a few more scathing takedowns like one critic who likened it to Michel Gondry directing a castaway take on Weekend at Bernie’s, suggest the general consensus is less than pleased.

To focus on the movie’s more lowbrow, puerile elements is to miss out on a beautiful if very surreal film about overcoming shame and being true to yourself. Yes, the bromance between a suicidal man (played by the brilliant and ever-adaptable Paul Dano) and a farting dead man (Daniel Radcliffe in a role about as far from Harry Potter as you can get) might be the catalyst for these life lessons but that shouldn’t necessarily detract from its more philosophical musings.