{"id":26860,"date":"2023-08-18T11:58:27","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T18:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=26860"},"modified":"2023-08-18T11:58:27","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T18:58:27","slug":"repetitive-gross-out-gags-makes-strays-tiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=26860","title":{"rendered":"Repetitive Gross-Out Gags Makes STRAYS Tiring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 93 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature film from Universal Pictures will be playing\nexclusively at theaters on August 18th.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, we\u2019ve seen many family movies about cute\ntalking animals. Often, the lead pooches are lost or must travel great\ndistances to reach loved ones. What isn\u2019t nearly as common are hard R-rated\nefforts featuring adorable creatures getting into very adult situations. The\nnew comedy Strays<\/em> attempts to rectify this problem with a great deal of\ngross-out humor (more often than not involving bodily functions). Admittedly,\nthere are a handful of laughs in the picture thanks to the impressive voice\ncast, but the repetitive approach to the off-color material ultimately becomes\ntiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story begins with a cute Border Terrier named Reggie\n(voiced by Will Ferrell) describing his interactions with human master, Doug\n(Will Forte). Reggie adores Doug, but it\u2019s immediately clear that his owner is\nhorrible and abusive. While playing a \u201cgame\u201d in which the dog is left in the\nbig city to fend for himself and find his own way home, the protagonist\nencounters a Boston Terrier named Bug (Jamie Foxx). Bug first explains to Reggie\nthat he has actually been abandoned by his cruel owner and then shows him how\nto survive on the streets. The new pal also introduces Reggie to his chums,\nAustralian Shepherd Maggie (Isla Fisher) and Great Dane Hunter (Randall Park).\nFinally understanding how poorly he has been treated, Reggie asks the gang to\nhelp him return home and take revenge on Doug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, the humor is blunt and very R-rated. There are\nsome amusing bits early on as the innocent Reggie misinterprets all of the\nover-the-top, awful statements and actions of Doug (even incorporating his\nowner\u2019s frequent curse as part of the name of a \u201cgame\u201d they play together) as\nloving affectations. And stray Bug has some entertaining lines early on,\nfrankly explaining both the harsh reality of life as a stray and the feeling of\nfreedom in being able to do literally anything they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also a very brief but comical bit involving the\nsudden appearance of a \u201cnarrator dog\u201d unwantedly delivering flowery prose about\nthe life of his human keeper to the protagonists. It quickly veers off in a\ndark direction and, in the process, effectively pokes fun at a movie trope. But\nwhile one would hope for more sequences riffing and indelicately making fun of\ncliches from popular animal-themed movies, the opportunity is largely\nsquandered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Instead, the screenplay has an episodic structure, with a\nlot of repetitive jokes telegraphed well in advance of the payoff. Even worse,\nthe majority of segments focus on scatological and\/or bodily function humor.\nRelatable witticisms involving the subject can generate laughter.\nUnfortunately, just about every scene involves a smelly turd and\/or characters\nmounting inanimate objects, or at the very least verbal references to such\nacts. By the midway point, seeing the movie duplicate the same kind of gag\nbecomes exhausting. And the movie\u2019s increasing desire to shock eventually leads\nto a screen literally filled with feces and a character being covered in waste.\nIt\u2019s certainly gross, but not particularly sharp or uproarious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the exaggerated, farcical-sounding revenge plot doesn\u2019t\namuse when Reggie actually locates Doug and the two face off. The human\ncharacter turns so nasty and violent that frankly it isn\u2019t fun to witness the\nbig showdown or what occurs afterward. Instead, it all falls rather flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The visual effects in the movie are impressive. It\u2019s easy to\nsuspend disbelief as all the animals converse and there are a few chuckles\ncourtesy of the delivery by the talented cast. But the screenplay lets the\nperformers down. Strays<\/em> doesn\u2019t offer any surprises and repeats the same\ngross-out gags until the credits roll. There isn\u2019t really enough material here\nto sustain a feature film and viewers are unlikely to be howling with laughter\nat this misguided effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 93 minutes This feature film from Universal Pictures will be playing exclusively at theaters on August 18th. Over the years, we\u2019ve seen many family movies about cute talking animals. Often, the lead pooches are lost or must travel great distances to reach loved ones. What isn\u2019t nearly as common are hard R-rated efforts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[213,4660,6014,8679,9972,10273,16638,19200,19201,19202,19203,19555,23571,24285,24287],"class_list":["post-26860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-213","tag-comedy","tag-dogs","tag-gross-out","tag-isla-fisher","tag-jamie-foxx","tag-randall-park","tag-strays","tag-strays-film-review","tag-strays-movie-review","tag-strays-review","tag-talking-dogs","tag-universal-pictures","tag-will-farrell","tag-will-forte"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}