For every lewd and crude comedy to work beyond its raunchiness, it needs to have a little bit of heart. I always reference 1999’s American Pie which revels in its R-rated silliness, but it’s a touching story about coming of age during the most awkward phases of high school. Primarily you care about the characters because they’re relatable and the crude shenanigans used to generate laughs, happen to be a bonus.
Despite the three protagonists of Good Boys being an age that feels long ago for this writer, it’s not hard to go back to the more innocent part of my adolescence and remember what it was like discovering new things and thinking I had all the facts on girls & sex based on my limited knowledge. Some might be offended by the approach of writer/director Gene Stupnitsky and his co-writer Lee Eisenberg in terms of what he makes the kids of Good Boys and say and do but not only does it happen to be very funny, it also happens to be very honest for what a child at 12-years old believes to be accurate. Good Boys is being sold on its raunch, but at its heart, the film is about confronting different aspects of their youth as they get through that ever so troublesome awkward phase.
Good Boys is built around a central premise that feels as innocent as can be: getting to kiss the girl of your dreams for the first time. Max (Jacob Tremblay) is on a quest to make it to a “kissing party,” thereby giving him a chance to finally kiss the “love of his life” Brixlee (Millie Davis) (remember the days when you thought you met the love of your life in middle school?). The one obstacle in his way is that he and his two best friends, Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon), don’t have a clue about kissing and their journey to discover how leads to some pretty hilarious results with one dealing with a Google search that makes them find out more than they bargained for and practicing on one of their parents’ CPR doll (for the grown-ups in the audience, it’s definitely not a CPS doll). One of their other plans has them deciding that the best thing to do would be to spy on a teenage neighbor, Hannah (Molly Gordon) when she’s with her boyfriend. To accomplish this, they “borrow” Max’s father’s drone. Things don’t go as planned with Hannah breaking up with the boyfriend and she and her best friend, Lily (Midori Francis), spot the drone hold it hostage.
Max can’t go to the kissing party if he’s grounded and that will happen if he can’t get the drone back, so he and his friends have to try to get it back from the girls. Their bargaining chip turns out to be the “Molly” in the bag of one of the girls that is swiped by Max’s friends. From here it’s a series of misadventures to lead to some genuinely hilarious moments and bouts of growth and self-discovery for our three young leads.
Seth Rogen is listed as one of the producers of Good Boys, and his signature is all over the film. The most natural comparison for this film would be Superbad, which explored similar themes of growing up through an R-rated filter but using the high school experience. The two films have a lot in common, despite Good Boys featuring characters that are six years younger. The bond between the leads is similar, and the joy and sometimes frustration amongst friends is also explored similarly. In Good Boys, the relationships and the prospect of losing them feel more severe because it involves kids at an age who think they’ll be friends forever, despite all the changes they’re going through. The fact that the film can focus on this growth and not shortchange it for the sake of the comedy is a sincere compliment. This isn’t an easy feat, but it’s mission accomplished due to the direction and writing of Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg.
Good Boys also works because of the sheer honesty in which the characters are portrayed. I was a little taken aback by the use of some of the language and subject matter until I realized it’s very similar to how my friends and I talked at that age and it was dead on to the banter that was going on as I exited my screening (typical that kids who aren’t old enough to see this practiced the right of passage of sneaking into an R-rated movie). The characters’ perspectives of sex are typical of boys their age. It’s a combination of facts, misinformation, and curiosity. In one scene, they think their parents’ sex toys happen to be household weapons and anal beads are simply a necklace to give to the girl you like. It’s funny because we know what’s up, but it’s also funny because the characters aren’t mature enough to know better and in that, the movie maintains their innocence to enduring effect.
In a current landscape where comedy seems to be a dying breed at the cinema, Good Boys is funny. Between the witty banter amongst the leads to some pretty hilarious set pieces and scenarios, the film doesn’t skip on the laughs. Some comedies can lose steam as they draw to a conclusion, but Good Boys maintains its momentum. I was especially impressed by several laugh out loud moments with one involving the kids racing across a highway and another with them going to a fraternity to buy drugs (sounds very dark and controversial but trust me the result is worthy of the joke).
The three age-appropriate performers show maturity beyond their years while also never making us forget that they are kids. The most well-known of the trio is Jacob Tremblay who has cut his young teeth on exciting endeavors such as his star-making turn in Room or his instantly engaging performance in Wonder. Tremblay can now add highly capable comedic actor to his growing filmography because his timing is spot on and he also crafts a lead character that is instantly likable. Keith L. Williams and Brady Noon are mostly known for their television critics, but it’s clear we have future movie stars in the making. The chemistry between the three of them is secure, and it’s by far Good Boys’ biggest strength.
Good Boys accomplishes its goal by somehow never being exploitative. The film earns its R-rating, but the charm of the film lies in its exploration of the innocence of childhood. The adult perspective of its not so innocent subject matter is what gets the laughs, but what sticks with you is the heart of how the story is told.
