The
titular good boys of this raunchy, coming of age comedy are trying, with all
their might, to be cool, bad, or popular, any of the three could fit at any
given point. The film itself, unfortunately, falls into the same pattern,
trying so hard to be like similar films that have come before that made this
inappropriate sub-genre of comedy a financial opportunity for Hollywood. It
matches some comedic beats that are wholly necessary when creating a 90-minute
comedy, delivering on a lot of laughs, or at the very least light chuckles.
Invited
to his first kissing party, 12-year-old Max (Jacob Tremblay) asks his best
friends Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) for some much-needed
help on how to pucker up. When they hit a dead end, Max decides to use his
father's drone to spy on the teenage girls next door. When the boys lose the
drone, they skip school and hatch a plan to retrieve it before Max's dad can
figure out what happened.
The
kids have a positive attitude and inherent good nature to them that drives a
majority of the comedy throughout the entirety of the film. Misunderstandings
of sexual innuendos, drugs, and alcohol are littered in every scene, no matter
what insane scenario the kids may be in. When the comedy works, so much credit
has to go to the three boys. Everyone already knows the acting capabilities of
Jacob Tremblay (don’t worry Jacob, you’ll get that COFCA award one day), but he
gets to flex his comedic talents here, and the kid has some great timing.
Not
to be outdone are his co-stars of course, who get plenty of moments in the
non-stop joke barrage to get their talents across as well. Keith L. Williams gets
the voice of reason role, a kid in Lucas in wants to maintain a longtime
friendship when everything is changing, and Williams brings the right amount of
extra naivety to the character. And then there is Brady Noon, the popular kid
worshipper who will do whatever it takes to join that crowd, to which Noon also
sells really well. The problems with the film reside nowhere near the three
lead performances, as all three really sell the comedy and have solid chemistry
and a friendship that’s believable.
That
just might be the only thing that is believable however. A comedy is bound to
have some outlandish moments, but the leaps in logic to put middle schoolers in
these situations seems a little big. The plot is relatively simple, a
streamlined goal that allows for the outlandish scenes that the filmmakers
strive for. All the kids want is to be able to get to the kissing party on a
Friday evening, but the journey there seems far more complex than it ever
needed to be. It’s as if writers Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg knew what
situations they wanted in the script, but changed the ages of the characters to
middle schoolers in the eleventh hour.
Good Boys takes
inspiration from many a coming of age comedy that have come before with very
similar setups and structures, and it turns out those were about as good as
they could be on their own. The three lead actors all really sell it well, even
when the comedy gets repetitive. The whole thing feels like a missed
opportunity when you consider the heart that is buried within the film, under
layers of profanity just for the sake of profanity. It’s a not a bad film by
any means, just a slightly above
average comedy that doesn’t feel unique or new in the slightest way.
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