The Reel Review
Abandoned by his completely cruel, neglectful owner, a sweet, oblivious border terrier meets up with a ragtag group of dogs who, upon informing him his owner is awful, goes on a journey to find his owner and bite off his beloved penis. Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx and Will Forte star in this raunchy canine comedy.
The problem with Strays is that this R-rated, potty-mouthed parody of sugary sweet dog movies like Marley and Me and A Dog’s Purpose just isn’t that funny. Despite having director Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) at the helm, the story by Dan Perrault (American Vandals), in the same vein as 2019’s equally raunchy but cute Good Boys, lacks the sweet, silly charm needed to make this premise work. The CGI of the dogs talking is often clumsy, and the lowbrow jokes – mostly about pooping, peeing, and humping everything in sight – are really weak. Even a surreal sequence where the dogs get high on psychedelic mushrooms feels phoned in and was done way better in Booksmart.
The movie finally finds a bit of heart in the second half when one of the dogs, Bug (voiced by Jamie Foxx), tells how he became a stray, but it is just too little, too late to redeem this dull, humorless comedy. At least Will Forte makes a convincing villain and the ending finally pulls back from the tasteless humor long enough to have a cute ending.
REEL FACTS
• Strays director Josh Greenbaum adopted the terrier puppy that played young Reggie at the start of the film.
• Jamie Foxx was hospitalized in Atlanta with a life-threatening medical condition shortly after completing his voice-overs for the film.
• Strays was filmed in Atlanta.
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