Directed By Josh Greenbaum

Starring – Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Will Forte

The Plot – When Reggie (Ferrell), a naïve, relentlessly optimistic Border Terrier, is abandoned on the mean city streets by his lowlife owner, Doug (Forte), Reggie is certain that his beloved owner would never leave him on purpose. But once Reggie falls in with a fast-talking, foul-mouthed Boston Terrier named Bug (Foxx), Reggie finally realizes he was in a toxic relationship and begins to see Doug for the heartless sleazeball that he is. Determined to seek revenge, Reggie, Bug and Bug’s pals together hatch a plan and embark on an epic adventure to help Reggie find his way home and bite off Doug’s member.

Rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use

Strays | Official Trailer [HD] – YouTube

POSITIVES

Animal dramas are among my least favorite subgenres, for their manipulative consistencies, but Greenbaum and his gifted ensemble take pleasure in deconstructing the annoyances of those predecessors, with an unapologetic raunchiness in material that heavily purges its R-rating. This element of adult-emphasized humor obviously won’t work for everyone, especially in the confines of cute and cuddly characters who some people never want to picture humping a couch, or cursing vitriolically, but for me the occasion supplanted no shortage of laughs that not only played effectively towards keeping me invested to the narrative, but also proved that the script’s best material wasn’t just limited to the audacious marketing trailers, which immediately divided audiences with its many crude personalities. Aside from the gags, the script is blessed with a surprising amount of heart in everything from animal abuse to neglect, which takes Reggie and his friends’ long-distance journey down some darkly depraved corridors, which outlines how a percentage of people can take these companions for granted, every single day. It’s nothing visually exploitative, but does convey an urgent message towards its audience that is simply unmistakable, all while proving that its engagement isn’t devoted entirely to just humor. Aside from the script and its directions, the direction of Greenbaum is most appreciative, especially in the way he steers these cuddly canines towards actions that pay-off tremendously for the corresponding dialogue. The use of solid C.G does pay-off in emotive expressions and seamless lip deliveries that “The Lion King” remake would kill to have, but most of the dogs’ physical actions play out naturally in front of the lens, which makes their capabilities all the more impressive, without the use of clever editing, which often stitches many of these animal dramas together. On top of this, the cast are also energetically eclectic in their stirring vocal talents, especially Ferrell and Foxx, who audibly bring these dogs to life with soulful encompassings. Ferrell, who normally annoys me a majority of the time, feels synthetic here in his portrayal of Reggie, bringing out the naivity, but also the warmth of man’s best friend, which also doesn’t require Ferrell to shout his dialogue, thankfully. Foxx also makes chicken salad out of chicken shit, with a commitment in approach to Bug that easily makes him my favorite of the group, with Foxx’s smoothly suave deposits giving the character a sensational swagger that is always a lot of fun to watch.

NEGATIVES

After five minutes of “Strays”, it feels like you’ve seen everything thematically that it has to offer, and that’s because the minimization of its plot and corresponding screenplay make it feel like a fifteen minute idea that is fleshed out to be a 93 minute presentation. This means that the one-dimensional storytelling never evolves or expands upon giving us any kind of surprises about the characters, or expansion of long-term difficulty towards its conflict, leaving it plagued by conventionalism at around the film’s midway point, when it runs out of creative juices. Echoing this fact even further are the elements of comedic material, which I did initially praise for effectively rendering more than a few hearty chuckles, but in balancing does feel a but one-dimensional in the outline of its gags, which play like a greatest hits of every raunchy R-rated comedy you’ve ever seen. Because “Strays” is from the same people who brought you “Good Boys”, one of the most uncomfortable experiences of 2017, it should come as no surprise that the material lends itself to sex, defacation, sex, overusage of cursing, sex, observational humor involving dog penises, and did I say sex? You start to get the impression that this film and its material refuse to deviate or even experiment with other avenues of expression, and because of such, this film overstays its welcome and its comic effectivenss quickly, leading to an inferior second half that is full of pacing problems because of such. Finally, while I don’t exactly look for logic in a film pertaining to talking dogs, problems of distractions do arise when that film can’t follow the rules that it initially established, leading to plot holes that it can’t write itself out of. There are a couple of examples, but the biggest is in the communication of human and dogs, which is highlighted as neither being able to understand the other. This proves false as the dogs react accordingly to threats paid in their direction, towards the end of the film, compromising the issue of establishment, which grows all the more discerning when you start to really think about how Reggie was able to understand his human owner this entire time.

OVERALL
“Strays” doesn’t quite stand on all four legs, but it does inscribe enough laughs among absurdity and a delightfully energetic ensemble, which allows it to sniff its way towards positive returns. While the film is plagued by a repetition of material, as well as paper thin storytelling, the ample amount of heart and awareness conveyed for man’s best friend simply saddles it with an underlining layer of heart that moves it miles, giving us the raunch as well as the remorse for man’s best friend.

My Grade: 6/10 or C-