Worth: $10.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Will Forte, Tinashe Kajese, Will Ferrell (voice), Jamie Foxx (voice), Isla Fisher (voice), Randall Park (voice)
Intro:
There are certainly worse examples of foul-mouthed comedies, but Strays’ surprising lack of wit, and OTT private parts and poo jokes really do get tiresome.
Who let the dogs out? Well, for the naive, optimistic Border Terrier, Reggie (Will Ferrell), it was not by choice. Abandoned by his lowlife owner Doug (Will Forte), he roams the streets, only to find solace with an unlikely crew of lovable stray dogs.
With his new posse – the foul-mouthed Boston Terrier, Bug (Jamie Foxx), the sharp Australian Shepherd, Maggie (Isla Fisher) and the anxious Great Dane, Hunter (Randall Park) – Reggie learns the freedoms of pup life that were denied of him and realises that his human has more interest filling up his bong water than setting eyes on him ever again.
Feeling betrayed, Reggie hatches a plan with the stray dogs to find his way home for the pure satisfaction of exacting vengeance on his owner’s appendage…
Hilarity ensues. At least for those who think the height of comedic wit are poo and dick jokes. If not, one might struggle to sink into the crass comedy of Strays.
One of the big issues is, it is evidently a kids’ concept but given an adult makeover. Many are familiar with the Cats and Dogs movies or the Direct to DVD ‘Buddies’ Disney series, but those films are over-the-top fantasy movies where felines can hatch plans to take over the world and dogs can man (canine) a mission to the Moon. In Strays, it simply applies raunchy, rude humour to the ordinary lives of canines.
As a result, the screenplay (by Dan Perrault of series Players and American Vandal, which suffer from a similar fate) struggles to stretch the comedic range further than seeing the humour in dogs urinating on each other, publicly fornicating, smelling each others’ rears, releasing their faecal matter haphazardly and oh yeah, the size of their appendages. What could be seen as the standout gross-out moment of the film, is once again playing into one of the jokes mentioned here to acquire a set of keys. We’ll let you guess which one that is.
While the laugh count might be low, the attention to detail in the computer animated motion of the dogs talking, is impressive. What could’ve easily been distracting, is actually technically impressive and should set the bar for future talking animal movies.
The voice-cast is overall strong here, with Isla Fisher and Randall Park standouts, injecting much-needed personality to the canines. Will Forte, appearing in human form, is also delightfully cruel.
Sadly however, the weakest of the cast is Will Ferrell. While he was exceptional in Barbie, he phones in the voice performance here.
There are certainly worse examples of foul-mouthed comedies, but Strays’ surprising lack of wit, and OTT private parts and poo jokes really do get tiresome. The only audience to recommend this to are people who want to stare at cute puppies for 90 minutes; and on the flipside, those who can’t get enough of seeing dogs humping each other.
