Strays – Review

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 33 minutes, Director – Josh Greenbaum

After learning that he’s been abandoned, young dog Reggie (Will Ferrell) is determined to travel home to bit his former owner’s (Will Forte) penis off, learning to be a stray along the way

Strays finds a lot of humour in pointing out the everyday things that dogs do. They poo, they pee and occasionally they hump things. When pointing this out as just that, things they do, the laughs fail to arrive. However, when positioning them as misunderstandings – central dog Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell) never quite understands whether his neglectful owner Doug (Will Forte) is playing with the dog or himself – there are more laughs to be found. While there may be a slight infrequency to such gags when they arrive they certainly make a good landing and provide plenty of amusement in the moment.

As we follow Reggie, abandoned a three hour drive away from home, initially believing that it’s just a long game of fetch, he gradually learns how to become a stray. It’s with the help of fellow stray Bug (Jamie Foxx), therapy dog Hunter (Randall Park) and sidelined-to-a-puppy Maggie (Isla Fisher), all of whom accompany him on his journey to return to Doug, all so he can bite his former owner’s penis off.

At 93 minutes Strays is a tight film and doesn’t outstay its welcome. A series of events, sketches and recurring gags make for an amusing watch that works best when bringing in a slight element of self-awareness. Both in terms of the dogs and their gross out actions; one scene in an adoption centre leads to groans of slightly disgusted amusement, and a handful of references – Josh Gad makes an appearance in the vein of his A Dog’s Purpose voice work. As a whole the generally light narrative and the events which make it up are used to the traditional idea of ‘what if x innocent idea swore and did drugs’, however it doesn’t fall into the trap of entirely lazy jokes. Yes, there are plenty of dumb jokes throughout, but a good number of them amuse and help to pass the time.

It may be strange sometimes looking at lingering shots of the dogs with their mouths moving to the shape of their words, but that’s more a light element of uncanny valley. Strays isn’t entirely a film you can complain about being disconnected from or completely emotionally invested in, it’s there to be an R-rated summer comedy, designed to make you laugh with crude and sweary humour. And it does a rather good job at that. While there may be a gap between some jokes, and certain gags may wear thing quickly, there’s enough present within the short run-time to make it enjoyable viewing for the time that it’s on, especially when working on the laughs instead of hoping for them from the more everyday aspects of a dog’s life.

Working best when developing gags and working them into the world of the film, the laughs might occasionally be infrequent, but there’s enough of them within Strays to make for amusing viewing for the luckily short run-time.