Strays (2023): Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx Team Up in 18+ Raunchy Comedy!!!

They say a dog is a man’s best friend, but what if the man is a total dirtbag? In that case, it might be time for some sweet revenge, doggy style.

INTRODUCTION.

Strays (2023) is an adventure, action, and comedy film directed by Josh Greenbaum and written by Dan Perrault. The film features voices by Will Ferrell who plays Reggie while being supported by voices from Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, and Randall Park. Harvey Guillén, Rob Riggle, Brett Gelman, Jamie Demetriou, and Sofía Vergara also star.

Strays was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on August 18, 2023, and runs for 1 hour and 33 minutes.

SYNOPSIS.

From IMDB, An abandoned dog teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner.

STRAYS (2023) FILM REVIEW.

What a funny and cheeky comedy this is! 

Doug is a lazy, and jobless man who owns a dog (so the dog claims). Doug isn’t happy with the dog Reggie, he doesn’t want Reggie but Reggie doesn’t know this. Reggie thinks Doug loves him, as expected from a dog.

Reggie narrates how he met Doug, saying, “Today will be the best day ever. How do I know? Because every day is the best day ever!” Doug’s girlfriend leaves him because of a strange “toy” Reggie brought home. This adds to the many other reasons why Doug wants Reggie out of his house. While still dealing with this, Doug gets an eviction notice and must find a new home. Doug keeps a stack of boxes with his favorite “Bong” on top. As Reggie tries to grab his ball, he accidentally knocks over the boxes, breaking Doug’s beloved bong. 

He said, ‘You really enjoy playing with that ball, don’t you?’ as he took Reggie out for a new game they both liked. In this game, Doug would throw the ball and then drive away in his car, while Reggie went to fetch the ball and make his way back home. But every time Reggie returned home, Doug would get upset.

Fed up with Reggie always coming back home, Doug decided to make the game more exciting. He took Reggie to an unfamiliar place and quickly drove away in his car. When Reggie got the ball this time, he couldn’t find his way back home. He meets a clever Boston Terrier called Bug, who becomes his friend. He spends a night with an Australian Shepherd named Maggie and a helpful Great Dane named Hunter. A bitter truth is revealed and Reggie makes it a commitment to take revenge on his owner and make Doug pay by biting off the appendage he loves the most. (Hint: It’s not his foot).

So, before we get into the review, I’d like to notify everyone that this movie is rated 18. The first 10 minutes of this film had me in shock but after overcoming that with all the swearing, and adult act, I realized that this movie is in fact, NOT a Disney-animated family-friendly film. I’m stating this because despite seeing the film’s poster, I did not see the R on it, It was when I was a few seconds in, then it hit me. 

Now, back into the review!

This film was juvenile, absurd, ridiculous, obnoxious, profane, raunchy, Ludacris, outlandish… and we all LOVED IT!

 As stated in the introduction, Will Ferrell voices Reggie while Jamie Fox does the same for Bug and Boy oh Boy, these two were fantastic. Not just these too but other voice actors too. The comedy is elevated by the brilliant voice acting. You’d expect nothing less from a comedy great like Will Ferrell who is of course superb, but it’s Jamie Foxx who steals the show with some truly inspired voice acting. Isla Fisher and Randall Park are great too, with the four of them making a fun foursome to follow around for 90 minutes. In my opinion, I’d say they carried this movie on their head with their never-out-of-touch humor, chemistry and so much more.

The Director Josh Greenbaum did an outstanding and noticeably impressive job with this film. Josh has shown a flair for out-there comedy with relatability and social issues at its center. He does the same again with “Strays.” Also, as stated earlier, this film featured a lot of profanity but besides that, the screenplay from Dan Perrault includes plenty of dog jokes, vigorous humping, and some wilderness mayhem that some may find shocking. 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. 

This film for me was like Ted. As naughty as Ted, as funny or even funnier than Ted. 

I loved the songs they used a lot and how and when they used it. ”I came in like a wrecking ball…”. Such a really nice movie even though I wasn’t okay with some scenes but I still enjoyed the film

The animators were brilliant, they tried different styles of animation and different ideas which I really loved I was confused as to why they were using it but for whatever purpose, I loved it. The visual effects work is mostly seamless, with all of the dogs (and their unseen trainers) giving impressive physical performances. Some of the CGI in the face and mouth movements are distractingly jumpy and inconsistent, especially regarding Bug’s dialogue.

Strays also explores the importance of leaving a toxic co-dependent relationship not just between a man and his best friend but time and again we see women going back to abusive men and finding it so hard to cut the ties that bind, achieving a sense of self-worth, and basking in the support of deep and unexpected friendships. 

FUN FACTS ABOUT STRAYS.

Did you know that Real dogs are used in 95% of the film? I bet you didn’t. 

CONCLUSION.

I couldn’t stop laughing, in fact, the whole cinema couldn’t stop laughing. The entire theatre either had smiles all over their faces. Not only was the comedy spot on, but there was actually a sweet and heartfelt story to this, and that just added to the entire humorous experience.

Strays took a big risk and by that, I mean there are some scenes in this film that you’d never even think about visualizing, let alone seeing them on screen, but the bold audacious Director dared to put them and that is why this is a must-see comedy for adults. It was absolutely brilliant as it was hilarious, and we loved it. On the whole, Strays is a fun, fresh, and most importantly funny comedy that will be sure to entertain.

You can watch Strays (2023) on Apple TV, Prime Video, Redbox, etc. or in cinemas close to you.

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