Review: “Good Boys”| 3 ½ out of 4 Stars | Rated R
By Kyle Osborne
Remember back in 2004 when the Tony Award-winning musical “Avenue Q” was all the rage? The writers hit upon a novel idea that worked: take something innocent like warm, fuzzy puppets…and make them say the most profane things imaginable. Have them sing about Internet porn and being Gay and masturbation. The juxtaposition of a Muppet-like character reciting dialogue that would be more at home on the Howard Stern Show was inherently funny, but if the gimmick had stopped there, the show would have, too. Instead, “Avenue Q” had memorable characters and catchy tunes and genuinely funny lines. The movie “Sausage Party” tried this idea out, with less success, using cartoon characters.
Jacob Tremblay, Brady Noon and Keith L. Williams
Which brings us to the new movie “Good Boys.” Three cuddly 12-year-old boys are entering the awkward stage, also known as 6th grade, have minds that are a chaotic mix of childhood innocence and the desire for carnal knowledge-manhood. The producers of the aforementioned “Sausage Party”, including Seth Rogen, have made a strong R rated film that their own cast would be too young to see—get it?
“Good Boys” drops more F-bombs than “Goodfellas,” and it works as comedy. I mean, not in and of itself, of course. Though sometimes shockingly raunchy, the movie stays as true to its central characters as “Stand By Me” did with its own young cast. They swear, they buy drugs (though they pointedly do *not* consume them), they run across 8 lanes of highway, all in service to the plot, and always believable, at least in a comedic context.
Oh, and the plot? It follows what Academy award-winner Aaron Sorkin describes as the “nut” (my word) of most stories: “somebody wants something and something is standing in their way of getting it.”
Bam! The boys want to attend their first kissing party, especially Max (Jacob Tremblay) whose crush on a cute girl could finally, finally be consummated. What’s standing in the way? Max has lost his Dad’s drone and has to replace it before Dad gets home, or certain restriction awaits him. In other words, no replaced drone, no kissing party. That’s the set up.
But this movie is all about the journey, the horrors of peer pressure, the heartbreak of young romance and the bonds of friendship (remember what Richard Dreyfuss’s character said at the end of “Stand By Me?” He said, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12…”).
The other two boys are Thor (Brady Noon) and Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and they are just as good as Tremblay, if not as well known. They each have well defined traits and backstories that make them essential to the trio.
By referencing a classic 80s film, an Oscar-winning screenwriter and a Broadway musical, I have elevated “Good Boys” to a height of which it is not worthy, I know that. I’m just saying that the lowbrow humor is exactly what it should be. The gags are kinda dumb and obvious and gross—and funny! And-this movie has a hell of a lot of heart.
Rated R (for strong crude sexual content, drug and alcohol material, and language throughout – all involving tweens)