Good Boys Review

R: Strong crude sexual content, drug and alcohol material, and language throughout - all involving tweens

Dir Gene Stupnitsky Writers Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky

Universal Pictures, Good Universe, Point Grey

1 Hr and 35 Minutes

Cast: Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, Brady Noon, Will Forte, Molly Gordon, Midori Francis, Josh Caras, Stephen Merchant, Sam Richardson

After being invited to his first kissing party, 12-year-old Max (Room’s Jacob Tremblay) is panicking because he doesn’t know how to kiss. Eager for some pointers, Max and his best friends Thor (Brady Noon, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire) and Lucas (Keith L. Williams, Fox’s The Last Man On Earth) 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 (Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth) 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 (Life of the Party’s Molly Gordon and Ocean’s Eight’s Midori Francis).

Somebody went ahead and did it. Somebody went ahead and made an entire live action South Park movie starring Jacob Tremblay. Hell, I can’t believe Tremblay’s parents, or any of the other parents, said yes to this. At first, I thought this would be more along the lines of Big Mouth, but while that show focuses on middle schoolers learning about sexuality and hormones, this film focuses on potty-mouthed kids who get into mischief and dangerous situations -- and boy it’s funny as hell. There is no way around it: these characters are pretty much the kids from South Park. Max is the central leader who thinks he’s more mature than everyone else (Stan), Lucas has a huge moral high ground and believes in being safe and honest (Butters), and Thor is a huge wimp who talks up a big game but never follows through on his words and cares way too much about his social status (Cartman).

Several might criticize how vulgar these kids are, but in all honesty, one of the reasons the movie worked for me was because of their vernacular. Kids are fucking nasty and, while they do say adult things, they’re so inept to the world around them. That is a piece of the film’s primary charm. The way Max, Lucas, and Thor speak is kind of the vernacular 11-year-olds actually have. I vividly remember my time in middle school and learning about sexual terminologies from my peers. I’m from Brooklyn and the stuff they would talk about in my middle school was worse than the mischief these boys get into. That said, the level of insanity the kids get into in this story is hilarious as their journey takes them from stealing beers in front of cops to battling college frat boys on their own turf. Most of the humor that works stems from their innocence and misunderstandings of adult terminologies, and an abundant amount of them land.

With a script written by Lee Eisenberg & Gene Stupnitsky, I do commend them for nailing down the nature of their central leads. This trio, who refer to themselves as “The Beanbag Boys,” have amazing chemistry together and you buy into their friendship. Also with this being Jacob Tremblay’s first comedic role, the kid proves to be how much of a superstar he is at such a young age and the triple threat he’s just bound to become. How each individual is established and characterized from their personal lives in the opening is great, so as the film progresses and their friendship gets tested, their vulnerability becomes visible and they let their emotions run. This may be the first time in a long time I’ve seen friends have a falling out on screen that results in crying, which you can’t help but respond with:

In my previous review (Booksmart), I went on a rant saying, “Stop comparing every raunchy comedy to Superbad!” While I don’t redact that, I will admit, this is Superbad Jr. HEY, THIS WAS PRODUCED BY SETH AND EVAN! The reason I say that is because the love these three kids share in their dynamic is as strong as the love Seth and Evan shared in that movie. When it aims for characterizing these kids and the conflict of their friendship, it succeeds. That is the emotional core of the story, and when it sets on that message of how friends do grow apart at a certain age, it’s genuinely heartfelt. The love that these friends share is open and sweet and has a lot of charm.  

Aside from the central leads, a lot of the supporting cast delivers hilarious performances, such as Molly Gordon and Midori Francis as the 20-something neighbors who kick start their journey of unfortunate events with a nice, spirited lesson that turns into a wild goose chase revolving around drugs. They’re not even antagonistic, for their conflict could’ve been easily solved. But because of the influence of drug PSAs on these kids, their morality prevents them from just simply giving back the drugs, so it’s hysterical in that aspect. The girls are hilarious and provide funny-as-hell interactions when they conflict with the kids. Plus, they’re incredibly frustrated the entire time. Speaking of frustration, even Sam Richardson has a hilarious sequence as a cop who doesn’t want to be bothered at a convenience store. Each set piece in the film has laugh-out-loud moments that usually end with hilarious results.

Studio comedies always seem to have the same issues regarding editing, where way too many jump cuts and reactionary shots are present. The editing is too fast and abrupt. Most of the funny laugh-out-loud scenes from the trailer don’t get their chance to shine in context with the story because it cuts way too fast. For the first two acts, they were focused more on going from set piece to set piece than being a fluent story. It was so damn choppy.

The characters in this story are consistent, but their moralities aren’t. The boys often refer to consent with girls as a means of being progressive and learning to be better men in their future, but ever so often Thor and Lucas would call the girl of Max’s dreams a skank out of aggression towards Max’s motivations. Then, Thor’s character arc is centered on being peer pressured to sip beer, yet the main conflict is literally not giving back the college girls their molly. They know drugs are bad, yet the film glorifies alcohol? If you’re going to be progressive, be consistent and fully commit with your characters. If you’re being fake with your own story... in the words of Sonic the Hedgehog:

These kids have great chemistry and a bond that emits throughout, but it focuses way too much on the raunchiness and shock value (especially with the overuse of sex toys) that it deviates from its focal plot and the balance between that and the poignant message it sends by the climax.

Despite its choppy editing and many inconsistencies, Good Boys is vulgar, charmingly hilarious, dirty, and pretty much the live action South Park movie we never thought would be released. It prospers from a brilliant young cast who are all destined for greatness.

Rating: 3.5/5 | 74%

Super Scene : Frat Fight