Movie Review: Strays

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

An enjoyable raunchy comedy. 
 
What makes this film work is that underneath all the very crude, immature and low brow comedy, this movie has a surprisingly good heart (or not so surprisingly as many raunchy comedies do these days). Our main character Reggie is a very likable little guy. Voiced by Will Farell, he has the same type of charming naivety and innocence that Farell brought to Buddy the Elf. Of course, this naivety is used for much cruder humor here, but it brings the same likability. The friends he makes along the way, are not especially memorable as individual characters, but the relationships they have with each other are very heart warming. When it comes to being the heartwarming this movie surpasses many of the type of "feel-good" films it is parodying. This movie also gives a surprisingly intelligent look at toxic relationships and how the effect our feeling of self-worth. While I am not surprised that this film would look at this subject, I am surprised at just how well it handles this difficult subject without ever feeling out of place among all the over-the-top comedy. 

This movie is first and foremost a comedy. As such it is rather hit and miss. A lot of jokes fall flat here and a lot of it feels like it is simply trying too hard. However at the same time, there were some very funny moments that made me laugh out loud and glad I watched this film. I just wished there wasn't always so much space between the really funny gags. 

All in all, this is not a great movie by any means but if you want a few good laughs and some good heartwarming moments, it is well worth a watch.