‘Good Boys’ make a good movie
Starting with the ageless premise that it’s funny to hear little kids swear, the Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg-produced coming-of-age comedy “Good Boys” showcases three sixth-grade best friends — Max (Jacob Tremblay of “Room”), Lucas (Keith L. Williams of “The Last Man on Earth”) and Thor (Brady Noon of “Boardwalk Empire”). They call themselves the “bean bag boys” because they like bean bags. In opening
scenes, Max’s dad (Will Forte of “The Last Man on Earth”) leaves on a business trip and makes Max swear not to touch the drone his father needs for his work. Guess what?
Just as you expected, Max, who has a crush on classmate Brixlee (Millie Davis); Lucas, who loves to play Ascension and whose parents (Lil Rel Howery and Retta) are getting divorced; and Thor, who has a great voice, but pretends he does not want to audition for the school musical, lose the drone. They lose it trying to spy on two older girls to learn how to kiss. They need this kissing knowledge for a “kissing party” they have been invited to by the coolest kid in school, Soren (Izaac Wang), and his crew. Why don’t they just Google kissing and get the lowdown? I wasn’t sure. In addition to swearing colorfully, these new millennium birthed children also like to sound like rap artists, dog.
Billed as a comedy from the “guys” who brought us “Superbad,” “Neighbors” and “Sausage Party” (well, I liked one of those), “Good Boys” is unabashedly male and boy-oriented. The film was directed by Gene Stupnitsky (TV’s “The Office” and “Bad Teacher”) and written by Lee Eisenberg (also “The Office”), who appears in the film as “Leigh Eisenberg” (but I missed it), and Stupnitsky.
After losing the drone to likable older girls Hannah (Molly Gordon of “Booksmart”) and Lily (Midori Francis of “Ocean’s Eight”), the boys sell Thor’s parents’ “CPR doll,” which is actually a sex doll, to Claude (Stephen Merchant) to raise money to buy a new drone (the boys also find and misidentify the parents’ other sex toys). They also steal Hannah’s bag with her ID, phone and pill bottle with molly inside. Basically, the film is a lewd and profanitylaced quest to set things straight by returning the drone, getting the bag and the molly back to its owner, attending the “kissing party” and getting Max his first kiss from his first love. It’s not that different from the “Odyssey,” only not quite as funny, and Joel and Ethan Coen were here first with their Homeric “O, Brother, Where Art Thou?” I think Forte is Polyphemus. “Booksmart,” which did not find the audience it deserved in its commercial release, is a better comingof-age film than “Good Boys.” But with award-winning 12-year-old Tremblay as the sweetest, most daring and quick to fly into a rage of the three boys, the cast is excellent. Williams, who is almost the size of a fullback, screams hilariously like a girl, and Noon really can sing, even if his Thor can’t stand a sip of beer and gets nicknamed “sippy cup” by mean boys led by the evil Atticus (Chance Hurstfield). Can someone give Howery and Retta their own sitcom, already? I’d watch.
(“Good Boys” contains drug references, lewd language and profanity.)