Good Boys
review by Bobby Blakey
The comedy producing powerhouse duo of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have been taking over Hollywood with varying TV show and movies including the upcoming Amazon series The Boys, Sausage Party and more. Their latest Good Boys takes the young adult comedy to a whole new level and features a great cast including Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, Brady Noon, Will Forte, Lil Rel Howe, and Retta. Could this film bring the laughs or will it fail to make the party in time?
Good Boys follows 12-year-old Max who is panicking after being invited to his first kissing party, because he doesn’t know how to kiss. Eager for some pointers, Max and his best friends Thor and Lucas decide to use Max’s dad’s drone – which Max is forbidden to touch – to spy (they think) on a teenage couple making out next door. But when things go ridiculously wrong, the drone is destroyed. Desperate to replace it before Max’s dad gets home, the boys skip school and set off on an odyssey of epically bad decisions involving some accidentally stolen drugs, frat-house paintball, and running from both the cops and terrifying teenage girls.
I have loved every trailer that has come from this film so had pretty high hopes going in. While not near as much on the vulgar side as I had thought and hoped it still works and offers up a ton of laughs. I know there are some put off by it and I get it being younger kids, but the sad truth of it all is that this is not uncommon at that age and in this setting pretty damn hilarious. While there are a ton of great dirty jokes and an insane amount of F bombs, there is still a pretty great story underneath all the craziness. Sure it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but these kids are so great it just works.
I believed in their friendship thanks to their chemistry. Each of their personalities and issues brought more to this comedy than I expected in the best way possible. All of the kids are great, but I have to say that Keith L. Williams stole every scene he was in for me. His sensitive and innocent
character offered up the most laughs for me. Tremblay does great with the mildly awkward of the bunch and had me laughing throughout but most notably during his montage reactions later in the film. Brady Noon was great offering the more complex in my opinion as he tries to find himself and his passion leading into a great sequence capping the end of the main story.
I really had a blast with this film, but know it won’t be for everyone. It is clear that it is not a family film and the only way it could have worked better would have been them pushing that R rating even further. This would likely have felt more forced and the balance between the heart and dirt of the overall film would have likely been lost. I applaud Rogen, Goldberg and the cast for making a film that will no doubt piss some of, but for me it had me laughing until the end.
This release not only includes the film, but also bonus content including a gag reel, commentary, alternate ending, extended & deleted scenes, as well as numerous featurettes that take you behind bringing this comedy to life. Join the fun with Good Boys available now on digital, Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Home Entertainment.