K.T Simpson
Thanks to a lot of marketing showing pre-teens acting in a completely inappropriate and somewhat filthy manner, “Good Boys” has become the comedy of the year that everyone wants to see (particularly the aforementioned pre-teens, ironically not old enough to see the film, as producer Seth Rogan has pointed out). The problem with a trailer that highlights a menagerie of hilarious moments is the risk that you’re seeing every funny moment the film has to offer. “Good Boys” inherently suffers from this curse, but only for the first half of the movie.
Director Gene Stupnitsky, who is more known for his writing credits on TV show “The Office”, makes his directorial debut with “Good Boys” and proves that he is not afraid of pushing the boundaries of comedy, toeing the line between what’s appropriate for a kid to say or do, and what they really want to say or do.
Self-declared ‘tweens’ Max (Jacob Tremblay), Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) are in the 6th grade, and are on a quest to prove how grown up they are – by skipping school, finding out how to kiss girls and preparing for an upcoming party at the cool kids’ house – all in one day. The plot is fairly basic, and is essentially “Superbad” with younger characters. The joke here is the 12-year old kids confronting issues in the mindset that they are much older than they really are – but in a manner that’s appropriate to their age. While it sounds confusing, it comes off brilliantly and delivers some gut-busting laughs.
Of course, you can’t put a movie down for all the good material being in the trailer, especially when those scenes are quite funny. In saying that, there’s only so many times you can see a boy hit himself in the face with anal beads or kids trying to cross a busy highway before it feels overdone. The criticism more-so comes from the script being a tad over the top, perhaps in an effort to shock the audience by the vulgarity of the conversations and actions of a kid who shouldn’t even know what porn really is, nor want to search for it on the internet.
In saying that, it’s the third act that pulls “Good Boys” out of a self-digging hole, and ends the film on quite a high note. It’s rare to see the second half of a movie really shine, as often this is where they fall apart. However, “Good Boys” is the exception, and the heart-warming narrative in amongst a tongue-in-cheek coming-of-age spinoff is quite brilliant. The three boys are all cast very well, and bounce off each other really well in the unlikely friendship they all share – but strangely just works.
If you’re a parent of a pre-teen in the millennial years, the dialogue and themes in “Good Boys” will ring so true, you’ll forget you’re not watching your own kids on the screen. Dropping current lingo like “lit” and all those other turns of phrase that you hear the kids saying (but aren’t really sure what they mean) is gut-busting hilarity at its finest – but ironically will also make you feel old AF.
“Good Boys” had the potential to become no more than a few laughs due to the token Seth Rogen humour – which if the characters were older, you’d likely have seen James Franco in the role – but thanks to a strong and unique third act it rises to be more than just what you see in the trailer. The kids deliver consistent laughs and believable performances, cementing the film as being more than just “good”.
