If, for whatever reason, you are looking for some advice on kissing, then Good Boys, directed by Gene Stupnitsky, is probably not where you should be starting your search.
Written by Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, and produced by Seth Rogen, it is like Superbad for tweens. . . instead of a triumvirate of friends looking for alcohol to impress as they head to a party (hoping to finally get laid), this story finds three buddies on a quest to learn how to kiss before going to their first kissing party – they must also try to track down a new drone after destroying one. This is Good Boys narrative in a nutshell.
Though the story is, in fact, very simple, what really makes this tale so endearing is its three main characters, Max (Jacob Tremblay – Room), Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) – there is some amazing chemistry amongst them. Forming the ‘Beanbag Boys’, Max is the coolest, and most mature of the gang (the one invited to the kissing party – using his clout to get his two ‘random’ buds an invitation as well), while Lucas is a happy-go-lucky rule follower (who has just learned of his parents’ impending separation), lastly, Thor is struggling to shed his new moniker of ‘sippy cup’ – after a failed attempt at drinking beer (he has even scrapped his biggest passion – singing, due to it not being the hippest of things to do).
Stupnitsky and Eisenberg, with deft perception, capture the magical age of these pre-teens. Thinking they already know everything, when, in effect, they know very little, hilarity ensues. With so many one liners, for instance, when Max is fingered as a misogynist, he vehemently defends himself, “I’ve never massaged anyone!”. . . or, on their quest to learn how to kiss, Max says that they can spy on his neighbour – who is a nymphomaniac. Thor, looking confused, responds, “She starts fires?”, to which Max must correct him, “No, she’s a nymphomaniac. Someone who has sex on land and sea”. Littered throughout, it is these loveable mistakes that endear us to these characters, for how can you not care about poor Thor, who two weeks into the school year laments that he is a “social piranha”.
Pieced together in an almost vignette style, Good Boys is not the most graceful to look at. – the transitions, and the way it is edited together can be quite sloppy, yet it really doesn’t hurt the film too much. In the end, it is going to come down to whether or not you will find three grade six students (cursing a lot along the way), who misconstrue so very much as they take a journey of growth toward maturity, funny. If dirty humour coming from kids isn’t your thing, this won’t be for you. . . if you’ve always wondered what the kids from Superbad would have looked like five years earlier, then this is your movie.
Yet, buried deep below this edgy comedic trifle is a story of the difficulties of keeping those child friendships alive through the years. . . for, as kids, everyone kind of likes the same things, but, as we grow up, we find new passions and desires that may not be linked with those childhood pals. So, as this threesome make their trek, questions do pop into your head – will these three be friends in a few years. . . or, for that matter, into their twenties and thirties? And, if you dig even deeper, it should give viewers (that are likely outside of their tween years) an idea of just how much more complicated it is for kids to grow up naturally – technology, drugs, family issues, peer pressure and bullying have all proliferated at a rate that has changed the landscape of what it is to be a child.
A fun little foray into the lives of three tweens, Good Boys is an easy watch. . . and, despite its intensive media blitz – it felt like there was a new trailer each week (one would surmise that every good bit would’ve already been seen before the movie even came out), there are still enough gags to make it a fresh, breezy comedy. Also, keep an eye open for small roles from Will Forte, Lil Rel Howery, and a cameo from Stephen Merchant. So, reunite with your childhood friends and swing into this 2019 comedy, at eighty-nine minutes, it doesn’t drone on and on.