‘Strays’ – Review
There’s nothing better than R-Rated comedy done right, and Strays takes the classic Homeward Bound narrative and completely flips it on its head for a hilarious and absolutely nuts story of dogs gone wild!
When a gullible Border Terrier named Reggie (Will Ferrell) is abandoned on the streets by his selfish and ruthless owner Doug (Will Forte), an animal-hating drug addict who never wanted him, he teams up with other strays including a street-wise Boston Terrier named Bug (Jamie Foxx), an Australian Shepherd named Maggie (Isla Fisher), and a therapy Great Dane named Hunter (Randall Park) to get revenge on Doug.
Director Josh Greenbaum steps up to lead the pack in a crazy story of one dog who just wants to find his way home….to savagely bite the dick off of his abusive owner. That’s Strays’ plot nailed down to the point, and this animal odyssey takes notes from such classic R-rated comedies such as Road Trip, Old School and The Hangover, and it’s hilarious. One thing that you’ll find with Strays is that you won’t be expecting the level of insanity that awaits, nor how far Greenbaum is ready to push the limits, and when you think this movie won’t go there, well, it goes there.
At the centre of Strays is Reggie (Will Ferrell), a sweet, but naive Border Terrier who will do anything to please his owner Doug (Will Forte). The only problem is that Doug is a complete fucking asshole, who abandons Reggie in the city and leaves him to fend for himself. Soon Reggie finds himself alone in the dog-eat-dog world of being a ‘stray’, and learns the rules of the streets from the street-smart and slightly crazy Bug (Jamie Foxx). Meeting new friends, including the gorgeous and sassy Maggie (Isla Fisher), and therapy dog Hunter (Randall Park), Reggie soon learns he’s been betrayed by Doug, and with his new friends, wows revenge! What follows is a hilarious road trip that sees these friends encounter the fun of magic mushrooms, fighting off the feral forces of nature and staging an ‘escape’ from the pound for Reggie to get his revenge.
Ferrell, Foxx, Fisher and Park all clearly had a blast with their vocal recording sessions, and their energy and enthusiasm to go wild with the story are present throughout the picture. Strays’ is a picture that takes away the filter, and what is left is a hilariously deranged comedy where anything goes. It’s fun to watch a film that’s this brave and not afraid to push the envelope, and it really shakes things up.
Strays is like Homeward Bound, but with more dick-biting, and it delivers a hell of a shock of hilarity that will have audiences in hysterics.
Image: Universal Pictures
