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JT (287 KP) rated Good Boys (2019) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020  
Good Boys (2019)
Good Boys (2019)
2019 | Comedy
Kids, they say the funniest things – or in the case of Good Boys, some of the dirtiest and rudest you’ll hear leave a tweens mouth. Baby faced Jacob Tremblay plays Max, a young boy approaching the outer reaches of puberty. His childhood friends Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) equally have problems of their own. One is losing his parents to divorce and the other is fighting a tough exterior to pursue an ambition to sing.

In a basic plot, the trio, who call themselves the ‘beanbag boys’, need to replace Max’s Dad’s drone after using it to do some aerial reconnaissance. The boys are desperate to learn the right way to kiss a girl after being invited to a party by the cool kids at school.

The group find themselves in all sorts of trouble on a four mile adventure to the mall, from infiltrating a drug deal in a frat house to the sale of a sex doll – not to mention the most effective way to put back a dislocated shoulder.

Good Boys is littered with harmless gags but the script does feel a little bland and awkward at times. Its foul-mouthed humour can become stale and it’s by no means on the same level as Superbad or even American Pie for that matter.

What you do get is a film with the occasional laugh and the odd heartwarming moment. A solid cameo by Stephen Merchant is one of the few highlights.
  
Good Boys (2019)
Good Boys (2019)
2019 | Comedy
South Park Meets Super Bad In This Summer Comedy
Good Boys is a 2019 comedy movie directed by Gene Stupnitsky and written by Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg served as producers under their Point Grey Pictures production company. It was also produced by Good Universe and Quantity Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film stars Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, and Brady Noon.


Entering 6th grade and dealing with their own personal problems, friends Max, Thor and Lucas are presented with the opportunity to attend a party thrown by the popular kids. However nervous that this will be their first "kissing" party, Max and his friends lose his dad's valuable drone while spying on his neighbor Hannah to learn more about kissing. And their journey to get it back is full of chaos and shenanigans they likes of which they are not prepared for.


Now this movie was really funny and had me laughing. Man it got me reminiscing about how my friends and I were pretty much our own version of the gang from South Park. What I enjoyed the most was that the movie had a great way of showing the kids struggle to understand things that you would think they would know because of how they act older by cussing and talking about other adult stuff. I really liked their group dynamic and the acting from them was really top notch. This movie really made me laugh but also made me miss my group of friends that I grew up with and used to hang out with all the time. I give this movie an 8/10 and say that if you are looking for something to make you laugh, then you need to check out this movie.
  
Good Boys (2019)
Good Boys (2019)
2019 | Comedy
Every generation has a coming of age classic that they can point to and say that it resonated with them. Whether it be classic John Hughes movies such as Pretty in Pink or The Breakfast Club, there is always something that defines the youth of that generation. Whether it be the situations that the main characters find themselves in, or even something as simple as the music and fashion, there is usually something that will strike a familiar chord with the audience. Even when I go back and rewatch the classics, it reminds me of a simpler time, when my life struggles involved asking a girl to a dance or attempting to fit in to any number of awkward first-time moments that each of us at one time or another go through. Good Boys is such a movie, about the awkwardness and naivety of youth, even if the kids had a bigger potty mouth than I did as a child.
 
Max (Jacob Tremblay), Thor (Brady Noon), and Lucas (Keith L. Williams) are a group of 12-year old boys known to their family and friends as the Bean Bag boys. Why do they refer to themselves as the Bean Bag Boys you ask? Why because they sit on Bean Bag chairs of course. Entering 6th grade they are trying to stand out but tend to do so in all the worst ways. Thor loves to sing but is bullied to not sign up for the school musical because it’s not a cool thing to be. Lucas is dealing with his parent’s new divorce and has a propensity to always tell the truth (even when the truth potentially causes more damage than a lie). Then there is Max, a young man whose hormones are beginning to take over his brain and can only think of the love of his life (and future wife of course) Brixlee.
 
Max being to shy to even look at Brixlee when she is looking his way is finally given a golden opportunity when he is invited by popular kid Soren (Izaac Wang) to a kissing party. The idea of being able to not only speak to Brixlee but be able to kiss her causes a rush of emotions that gravitate from excitement to terror. Max, believing that the way to his true-loves heart is by being a kissing expert recruits his fellow Bean Bag Boys on a quest to learn to kiss.
 
His quest will take him from spying on his “nymphomaniac” neighbor, to a treacherous highway crossing to get to the mall. They will have to brave frat houses, and potentially risky run-ins with pedophiles and the police, all to learn how to be a better kisser. Of course, there is plenty of laughs and situations that only naïve children could get themselves into, all of which had me and the entirety of the audience laughing the entire way through
 
Good Boys is a movie that relies on the audience connection with the main characters to succeed. Without that, you are left with a movie full of foul language and crude humor which have lately become a dime a dozen. Thankfully the casting of Good Boys far exceeds any expectations I had going into the theater. Comedies of these type lean heavily on the actors to carry the story through the hi-jinx that are around every corner and the actors were more than up to the challenge. Jacob Tremblay portrays perfectly the fear that every young boy (or girl) goes through when they imagine their first kiss. Keith L. Williams shows the heart break that a young kid goes through when deal with personal tragedy (in this case his parents’ divorce) and yet still remains true-to-himself anyway. Brady Noon excels at his desire to be cool, and still struggle with how coolness affects what he truly loves and wants to ultimately do. All three as a group convincingly take us on a journey that may seem outlandish, yet ultimately feel believable as well.
 
Good Boys also has a strong supporting cast, that add further dimension to the film. The two “old” girls Lily (Midori Francis) and Hannah (Molly Gordon) are fantastic in their portrayal of two women who simply want their drugs to get high. They will go to almost any lengths to get them back from the boys who stole them and yet end up becoming a bigger part to the film as a whole. Even the well meaning yet clueless parents of Lucas (Lil Rel Howery and Retta) add to the laughs as a couple trying their best to protect their son even as their own lives are driven apart.
 
Good Boys may come across in previews as a crude comedy with loads of foul language and sexual situations. While at first glance that may be what it is, as you pull back the layers you soon begin to realize that it’s a story, not about the words that are said, but the innocence of youth and what it means to grow apart as friends. The laughs are non-stop and the language excusable because of the innocence of those on the screen who are spouting them. As parents maybe you’d be looking to wash their mouths out with soap, but as the audience you can’t help but think how innocent they truly are. Good Boys is a movie that will resonate with many in the audience, who likely went through some of these very same dilemmas in their own coming of age stories. Maybe not through paintball fights at a frat house, or crossing a busy freeway, but we each have our own unique stories that helped to mold us into who we are today. It’s funny how watching a film like this can make you reminisce on your own experiences, even if it isn’t on the big screen for all to see.
 

4 out of 5 stars

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