From the moment that first Good Boys trailer premiered, buzz shot through the roof. Then, it premiered at South by Southwest festival in March and that only fanned the flames of anticipation. Here it is five months later, and audiences can finally dive into the continually hilarious and surprisingly endearing slice of late summer entertainment.
When the Oscar winning Room landed in theaters 2015—besides providing the forum for a dazzling turn by Brie Larson (that won her that Academy Award)—the heart searing drama served as the most extraordinary of talent showcases from a young thespian. Jacob Tremblay literally stole the show from his co-star and the world was put on notice that the most innate of gifted performers had arrived. Fast forward to this week and after supporting work on films such as The Predator and another breakout lead performance with Wonder, the actor is back with Good Boys … and boy oh boy is he good. For that matter, so is everyone else in this comedy that will have you LOLing all the way through.
It’s the beginning of a new school year and BFFs for life Max (Tremblay), Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brandy Noon) have been invited to a party at the leader of the “cool kids,” Soren (Izaac Wang). This is not simply a fete that features music, dancing, tasty beverages and pizza. Soren is throwing a “kissing party.” After the excitement of being stoked that they were asked to attend, reality sets in … they have no idea how to kiss. What’s a trio of tweens to do? After getting nowhere online by searching porn, they decide to turn their attention to the real world. That means taking the drone owned by Max’s dad (Will Forte) and sending it into the skies to spy on their neighbor Hannah (Molly Gordon) who they believe will be kissing her boyfriend or perhaps her BFF, Lily (Midori Francis). Sadly, the drone winds up in the hands of Hannah, who is none too pleased about being spied on by her neighbors.
The boys head over to Hannah’s house, tail between their legs, asking for forgiveness for invading their space and that the drone be returned. See, Max’s dad is coming home from a business trip and the clock is ticking. That drone needs to be back on its charging carousel by that time. If no drone, no party and no kissing for Max with his major crush. Things get complicated when the girls refuse to give back the drone and Thor snatches Hannah’s purse—that just happens to not only have her phone, wallet and the sort. But a few hits of Molly that she and Lily were planning to take on this fine day that suddenly has gone down the drain.
It seems like the simplest of premises, yet in the hands of director Gene Stupnitsky—working from a script co-written by him and Lee Eisenberg—there are the richest of layers to the film on a myriad of levels.
This is a film from the “guys who gave you Superbad.” For those expecting a similar flick, forget it. This is wildly different in so many ways. Yet one could easily call it a cinematic cousin of the comedy classic. Seth Rogen serves as a producer while his frequent partner in crime, Jonah Hill, is one of the executive producers. Their comedic sensibilities are all over this film, yet there is something extraordinarily unique about Good Boys that allows it to stand all on its own when compared to everything that Hill and Rogen have brought audiences’ way. All involved have the firmest of grasps on what it is like to be a 12-year-old whose world is drastically altering by the day and command of everything from your body, your emotions and even your changing voice, seems to be outside of the realm of your control. It is captured so luminously in Good Boys that had to be the most welcomed of surprises.
What else was astonishing was how the emotional ebbs and flows played an enormous part in the 100-minute joyride through what it means to be knocking on teen-dom’s door. Filmmakers have woven a web that, although they cannot see it because of it’s hard-R rating, in some ways could serve as a road map for tweens in how to usher in those wildly wicked teenage years. There is an enormous difference between those elementary school grades (here that means K through fifth grade) and junior high (sixth through eighth). The way the kids are growing up today, it is no wonder that so many school districts have changed from the middle school format that was solely seventh and eighth grade and now includes sixth graders. The societal, parental and peer pressure on these kids makes them feel as if challenging change is literally a 360-degree concern. In Good Boys, that is handled so intuitively that it makes one wonder if the writers managed to discover a time machine and went back to those days of their youth because it is a crystal clear mirror of tweendom knocking on the teenage door.
The bean bag boys (as they call themselves) have been joined at the hip since Kindergarten. Not only does the tween body alter, but so too does relationships with your peers. Interests change, and at a rapid rate. Interests alter, also understandably fast. Everything is in a constant state of evolution and how a raunchy R-rated comedy manages to capture that essence is Good Boys’ greatest gift. The kinship of Max, Lucas and Thor is one that everyone can relate to—both men and women. There are numerous scenes where laughter spills out all over the place in the most glorious of ways. What is so dazzling is that the heart matches the hilarity every step of the way. These are real and raw emotions that run the gamut from explosive laughter to pure sobbing.
Yes, it may seem odd to talk about a film that utilizes anal beads for humor on numerous occasions is also one that makes one’s heart feel warm and fuzzy. What is dazzling too is how—through this raunchy haze—there is an uncanny amount of intellectual insight into how we as humans grow. That is captured so brilliantly through the character of Lucas. He is a rule follower, and often to the detriment of his two pals, an enforcer.
While all this palpable excitement surrounding a kissing party permeates every moment of the film—that is leading to that third act event—there is a touching reality that could not be more expertly inserted into an R-rated romp. During this period of our lives, kids start to saunter away from the parental focused life that came before and the friend focused existence that is middle, high school and college. As portrayed in Good Boys, this journey is thoughtfully handled with an enormous amount of hilarity and an equally dazzling heap of heart.
Grade: B+