Strays

As a pet lover, seeing the trailer for this I knew I was going to have to see it asap. A funny film in the mould of the Ted movies, so don't expect subtlety, expect lots of crude humour.

The dogs are cute and we get a nice balance of characters (and breeds for that matter), and Reggie the lead Border Terrier is super cute. His owner, less so, treating him badly and trying to abandon this lovable and gullible dog!

The movie has a warm heart at its core, and as we experience all the escapades of the dogs we root for them to achieve their goal. I guess you need to really know or own a dog to really find it funny, and being adult in nature it has limited its market perhaps resulting in its poor box office takings.

None the less, I thought it was fun and enjoyable and would recommend it to have a laugh as a light movie with a beer in hand.

7/10.

I saw Strays at an early fan screening and there were a total of 10 people in my auditorium. This is the reason we barely see comedy movies any more, let alone R-rated ones that don't hold back.

Strays is fun and funny from beginning to end. The hit rate on the comedic attempts is high. Most of it made me laugh out loud. The rest made me at least smile. Comedy is subjective, and I personally love this type of crass comedy.

The casting is on point. I enjoyed all of the voice acting. But the one casting choice that I adored was Will Forte. I realized how much I miss him after rewatching MacGruber recently. He's absolutely perfect for the role.

For a relatively silly movie and concept, it does a surprisingly good job of getting you emotionally invested, even if you're not a dog person. After the movie I couldn't wait to see my cats.

(1 viewing, early fan screening 8/16/2023)

This is certainly an R-rated comedy featuring dogs as the main characters. These dogs don't just cuss, they are, in many instances, deeply foul-mouthed. I don't have a problem with language, but much of the humor of this film is really predicated on us finding the image of a cute little dog cussing with the best of 'em. Will that make you laugh? If so (and nothing wrong with that), you will like the film more than I did. I found it a bit tiring and uninventive. Same with the poop jokes...a little goes a long way.

On the other hand, there are some amusing bits about the odds things dogs do, like turning around in circles a bunch before laying down. Those uniquely "doggy" gags work much more effectively.

The movie is fitfully funny and I admired the mixture of real dogs with CGI mouths. Some convincing work there. The voicework is generally solid. I can't exactly recommend it, but you know...it was an enjoyable if forgettable visit to the movies.

This is a great comedy, it's an even better dog movie. As a dog lover, I immediately hated Doug, the owner of Shi-err Reggie. The sad reality is that there are millions of those people. Folks who have zero business even being around the greatest animals on earth. But that's another discussion. I saw Strays tonight on its first day in theaters and loved it. It is a foul, raunchy, subversive, brilliant ride and I loved every minute of it. Yes, there are a few things that could be improved but not many. The ending is actually perfect and the mid credit scene is hilarious. Ignore the morons and see this movie.

Reggie is abandoned by his owner, he meets up with a small band of other homeless dogs, and vows one thing, revenge.

Well this came as a big surprise, after the complexities of Oppenheimer, it was just so good to sit and watch something easy going and fun. This really did serve as a pick me up for this awful summer of 2023.

It was nice to be in a packed cinema, one that was genuinely full of laughs, and whilst they trailered it heavily, they kept the best moments for the film.

Oh boy, I thought this was going to be a film to take the kids to see, they'd love it I don't doubt, but it's way more crude than I was expecting, it put me in mind of Ted, it's that cheeky, bell laugh brand of humour.

Rude and funny, loved it.

8/10.