Synopsis:
Invited to his first kissing party, 12-year-old Max asks his best friends Lucas and Thor for some much-needed help on how to pucker up. When they hit a dead end, Max decides to use his father’s drone to spy on the teenage girls next door. When the boys lose the drone, they skip school and hatch a plan to retrieve it before Max’s dad can figure out what happened.
You would not expect a raunchy comedy about tween boys to amount to anything spectacular but this movie took me by surprise. Though you do get lots of inappropriate moments that are sure to make everyone laugh their tushies off, this movie also provides valuable lessons about friendship, embracing change, and being true to yourself that every kid living in 2019 should be reminded of. It is too bad Good Boys was given such a hard R-rating, however, because I do not think the messages apply to the targetted audience it was going after as much as it would to a younger crowd. Allow me to explain.
In Good Boys, we follow three friends – Max (Jacob Tremblay), Thor (Brady Noon), and Lucas (Keith L. Williams), also known as the “Bean Bag Boys” – who are just trying to make it through the sixth grade. Max was recently invited to a kissing party and if that was not already intimidating enough, his crush is going to be there too. He goes to Thor and Lucas for help but little did they know that things are about to take a turn for the worst and they have to figure out a way to get out of this mess without their parents finding out.
Without spoiling all of their crazy antics, this movie gets very whacky with no dull moment in sight. The pace is fast and these boys get themselves in several tricky (and unrealistic) situations that are both hilarious and rather worrisome for a couple of kids without parental supervision. In all the craziness, Good Boys also attempts to lead viewers with positive messages that can be applied to our everyday lives. Though not necessarily thought-provoking, it was nice to see this film handle topics like friendship, bullying in schools, unlocking your authentic self, and even the importance of sexual consent in a constructive way. In the end, these inseparable best friends have to understand the meaning of growing up and finding their own path in life even if it means they won’t be hanging out as much as they did in elementary school.
Again, I wish the filmmakers behind Good Boys (who were also brought us movies like Superbad, Neighbors, and Sausage Party) could have given up the frequent “f-bombs”, sexual innuendos, and drug references found throughout in the movie because if it was not for the R-rating, this could have been a decent tween comedy that would have been more appropriate to aim at younger audiences. That is not to say adults will not enjoy this film because it is a very funny summer flick. All things considered, I still had a good time watching the coincidental adventures of Max, Thor, and Lucas unravel. I just would not recommend taking the kids to watch the movie with you. 😉
My score: ★★★/5
Good Boys will play in theaters Friday, August 16th.
probably at the movies.
