Good Boys review

GOOD BOYS:

THESE BAD BOYS ARE GOOD, AND SO IS THIS VERY FUNNY COMEDY!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

(From left to right) Lucas, Max, and Thor (No, not that Thor!) are in for a wild day in Good Boys

            Three middle-school boys learn how to kiss when they are invited to a party with lots of girls but goes horribly wrong in Good Boys, the new comedy produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Superbad, This is the End, Sausage Party) and featuring some foul-mouthed sixth-graders. When the trailer for this movie first came out it looked like the rehashed plot from Superbad with the middle-school demographic which makes sense given the film is produced by the same people who made that movie, it looked funny albeit familiar to say the least.

            Good Boys seemed like every other Seth Rogen comedy but with kids, kind of like what Superbad did for teenagers. But hey, if the movie’s funny then it did its job and…it certainly is, quite funny actually AND at times, heartfelt. 

            Don’t worry, you still get all the sex jokes, drugs, and profanity you’d expect out of a Seth Rogen comedy with a childlike innocence, but Good Boys also cleverly puts in a thoughtful message about growing up that doesn’t feel out of place. Add a talented young cast on top of it and you got some bad boys that are good.

            The film follows sixth-graders, Max (Jacob Tremblay-Room, Wonder, Doctor Sleep), Thor (Newcomer, Brady Noon), and Lucas (Newcomer, Keith L. Williams) who are invited by one of their classmates at school to a kissing party with lots of girls. However, there is one tiny problem, they don’t know how to kiss and with little time to prepare.

            So, they decide to use Max’s father’s drone which they are forbidden to touch, to spy on their teenage neighbors making out. But things go entirely wrong when the drone is confiscated by their neighbors. 

            Desperate to get the drone back before Max’s dad (Will Forte-That 70s Show, MacGruber, Nebraska) realizes it’s gone missing, the boys go on a wild goose chase with accidentally stolen drugs, frat-boy paintball, and running from both the police and two terrifying teenage girls who just want their “Molly” back. All the while getting to the party on time for a night they’ll never forget.

            The film also stars Lil Rel Howery (The Carmichael Show, Get Out, Rel) as Lucas’ father, Sam Richardson (Veep, Detroiters, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising) as Officer Sacks, Retta (Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Parks and Recreation, Good Girls) as Lucas’ mother, Millie Davis (Wonder, Orphan Black, Esme & Roy) as Brixlee, Benita Ha (Street Cents, Smallville, X-Men 3: The Last Stand) as Soren’s mother, and Stephen Merchant (The Office (UK), Extras, The Ricky Gervais Show) as Claude.

            Overall, Good Boys delivers exactly what it promises, crude sex jokes, excessive profanity, drugs, and drinking in a middle-school environment…that probably can’t even see the movie to begin with. But for the people who are old enough to watch it will get a lot of laughs and a surprisingly charming young cast making you laugh. 

            The kids portrayed in this movie don’t feel like they’re acting almost as if they’re written like real kids and the chemistry between Jacob Tremblay, Brady Noon, and Keith L. Williams is very strong. I could believe these three as best friends getting into all kinds of shenanigans in real life and the script allows them all to have their moments to shine. 

            You got Tremblay who had previously earned unanimous praise for his performance in Room as the average kid who just wants to learn how to kiss so he can tell his crush how he feels about her at the party is probably the most relatable out of the boys, Noon as the wild, party animal with an aggressive attitude and a severe hatred for sippy-cups (It’ll make sense when you see the movie) gets some good laughs in, and Williams as basically the quirky black sidekick who I thought was going to be incredibly annoying but ended up being one of the funniest things about this movie, and he has his own sub-plot about dealing with his parents’ divorce which can actually get pretty emotional at times, all three of them work off each-other perfectly and hopefully they’ll go on to do more great projects in the future.

            With all the R-rated raunchiness happening, Good Boys probably has the most heart out of any of Seth Rogen’s previous films even if he doesn’t appear on-screen in it. Yes, it’s about middle-schoolers running away from crazy teenage girls because they stole their drugs and trying to get their drone back in over-the-top ways, bur when you really get down to it, Good Boys is a movie about the importance of friendship and growing up and anyone who was once a kid can relate to it in some sort of fashion, it speaks to your inner-child and makes you reminiscent about your childhood and the high-points and struggles you’ve faced in life. 

            Good Boys is an uproariously funny comedy with all the raunchy humor, sex jokes, and drugs you would expect but still retaining a childlike innocence thanks to the charm of its talented young leads. I guarantee you’ll get some “Good” laughs with these “Good Boys” just…don’t bring the kids…please.