Review by John Delia
I would be remiss if I sugar coated the film Good Boys with a lot of comedic fun words, so I won’t. Is it funny? Sure it is, but I’m hoping it’s just a fantasy of a sick mind and that it really doesn’t happen in real life. At least with most of the 6th graders in the world there’s still has to be hope for decency at an early age. Enough rant about underage kids for now.
And the film’s plot goes like this: Middle Schooler Max (Jacob Tremblay) has had a crush on Brixlee (Millie Davis) for some time. But, getting close to her has not been easy. So, when Max gets asked to attend a kissing party by Brixlee’s best friend, it’s a no brainer to answer yes. But, he won’t go without his best friends and fellow “bean-bagger-Club†members, Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon).
It’s all set and the boys are excited for a chance to be in a place with a crowd of cooperative girls their age wanting to be kissed for the first time. But, there’s some hurdles to jump, like learning to kiss, getting to sip a beer to show the bullies their not afraid, buying drugs from a local college fraternity and even getting to the party on time.
The movie is worth the watch for adults as long as you view it as a comedy with 11-year-old kids following a script co-written by Director Gene Stupnitsky (Bad Teacher) and produced by Seth Rogan (writer for Superbad, Neighbors 2). The trailer for the film compares it to Superbad, but the teens in that one, Michael Cera (was 19), Jonah Hill (was 23), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (was 20), were playing characters in High School, not first year Middle School. Good Boys pushes the envelope too far with stealing beer, drinking beer, handling sex toys, selling a sex doll to a creepy guy, buying drugs for teen girls from college frat boys, all while using rude crude language throughout. To boot, no consequences for the boys, with even the cop who catches them stealing ignoring the crime.
Good Boys has been rated R by the MPAA for strong crude sexual content, drug and alcohol material, and language throughout – all involving tweens. I hope the adult parents of young children become a bit guarded from the movie experience and make it child proof for Netflix and other home viewing.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A comical take on America’s youth, I hope. (2 out of 5 Stars).Â
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, Brady Noon, Molly Gordon, Lil Rel Howery, Will Forte
Directed and co-written by: Â Gene Stupnitsky
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: R for strong crude sexual content, drug and alcohol material, and language throughout – all involving tweens
Running Time: 1 hr. 29 min.
Opening Date: August 16, 2019
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Released in: Standard, Color