Strays is one of those movies that could very easily be a one-joke idea that runs out of steam in its first 30 minutes. I think of movies like Sausage Party or This Is The End that thought if they kept repeating the same joke over and over the audience would still be laughing by the time the credits roll.
First off, Strays isn’t for kids. It’s low-brow humor mixed with some cleverness. Also, it doesn’t overuse its cast the way some other movies like this are known to do. Maybe it’s because some of the famous names who voice some of the other dogs who briefly appear have been reigned in by the filmmakers because of the expense of special effects to make the dogs’ mouths move.
The plot revolves around Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell) is a gullible Border Terrier who is living with a dead-beat stoner, Doug (Will Forte), who only has him out of spite for his ex-girlfriend who wanted to take him when she moved out. However, Reggie doesn’t realize that the abuse and neglect Doug inflicts on him every day is bad. He even thinks the numerous times Doug tries to dump him is a game called “Fetch and Fuck” because Doug screams “Fuck!” every time he sees Reggie come back.
So, he drives all the way to a bad neighborhood in Atlanta to dumb Reggie in a place he knows he will never find his way back to him. Doug is also being evicted at the same time. While in Atlanta, Reggie meets Bug (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a stray Boston Terrier, who shows him the ropes of how to survive, by pissing on everything they can and humping everything else. Bug introduces Reggie to his two friends, Hunter (voiced by Randall Park), a therapy Great Dane who has a cone around his neck and Maggie (voiced by Isla Fisher using her natural accent), an Australian Shepherd.
As he gets to know more from Bug, Hunter and Maggie, he realizes that Doug didn’t love him. So, he plans to go back to the house before Doug can move out so he can bit his penis off. Along the way, they bond and get into a lot of misadventures such as going to a carnival where they are frightened by the “Gods” which are fireworks (A friend of mine and her husband and daughter are in this scene which was a nice surprise to me when I saw it.) They also have a fun time when they accidentally eat the wrong mushrooms which isn’t for the squeamish. Imagine Watership Down meets Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
But they also learn about Bug’s past as he at one time had a place to stay before an accident eventually led to him being a stray. Hunter and Maggie are also smitten for each other but afraid to really tell each other at first. Despite the crudeness of the movie, there is still a good story to the movie that teaches us that dogs aren’t just toys, birthday/Christmas gifts or accessories. Reggie was given away free outside a store, probably from an unwanted litter. And Bug’s history is more sad when you consider how overreactive some parents can be to one accident.
On the surface is seems to be an R-rated parody of movie’s like Homeword Bound: An Incredible Journey, A Dog’s Purpose (with a neat cameo by Dennis Quaid who was in that movie), and of course, the Benji franchise as that dog is a Border Terrier himself. It would be easy for a movie to just have dogs urinating everywhere and humping things for laughs like an Adam Sandler comedy or something Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer might have done 15 years ago. But this one manages to tell a story. Its writer is Dan Perrault who created American Vandal, which won a fucking Peabody Award. So, it’s not just frat boy-locker room humor.
I kinda like how director Josh Greenbaum got Fisher to use her real accent. It’s almost hard to believe it’s her. And Ferrell has needed some big hits for a long time. He seems to have the right tone and delivery to make Reggie foolish but sympatethic. And Foxx, who had a huge health issue earlier this year, is on fire as Bug added just the right needed pathos to the role.
Earlier this year, James Gunn took some criticism over the footage of the animals being experimented on in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He defended the movie by saying that was his intention to show that animals shouldn’t be used for medical testing. And I feel the filmmakers are telling a similar fable about how we have domesticated dogs and don’t know how to treat them. Yes, Doug is a bad person for how he treats Reggie, but so are those that abandoned Bug, Hunter and Maggie, whose previous owner, Jenna (Charity Cervantes) abandoned her for a Pomeranian she dresses in a vest. Jenna sees dogs as accessories and is hair-brained.
Yes, it’s a vulgar, crude movie. But I laughed a lot and watched it twice within a short time. I don’t want to ruin any of the jokes, but I love how they always talk about “The Devil” and then when we find out who they’re talking about, it’s a great payoff.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 