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‘Strays’ Review: A Raunchy Comedy Goes to the Dogs

Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx voice two canines on a quest for revenge in this crude live-action feature.

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By Glenn Kenny

The King James Bible is loaded with memorable analogies, and one of the most vivid is from Proverbs: “As a dog returneth to its vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” It’s true — a dog will do that. A dog might also sample the vomit of another dog, as is depicted in one of the many intestinal, fecal and urinal gags served up in the relentlessly raunchy comedy “Strays.”

Directed by Josh Greenbaum from a script by Dan Perrault, “Strays” tells the story of Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), a winsome Border terrier who is abandoned by his owner, the miserable, porn-addict stoner Doug (Will Forte).

Alone in an alley, Reggie gets the come-on from some sexy Afghan hounds. How does prostitution work in unsupervised dog society? It is never explained, just as it’s never explained why the animals speak to each other in English while not understanding the English spoken by the humans. The movie uses a mix of live action and computer animation, but world-building was not quite a priority here.

Once Reggie meets the street-smart Boston terrier Bug (Jamie Foxx) and realizes the extent to which Doug hated him, he resolves to find the man and bite off one of his most beloved extremities. In this quest, the new friends are joined by two domesticated dogs: Hunter (Randall Park), a timid Great Dane, and Maggie (Isla Fisher), an elegant but earthy Australian Shepherd.

Over the next 90-plus minutes, the canines drop as many F-bombs as Pacino did in “Scarface.” Then there are the scatological jokes, each one more outlandish than the last, none bearing the slightest tinge of wit or joy. (The thing about John Waters’s extreme underground comedies is that they had, you know, enthusiasm.) Granted, a scene here that takes aim at the convention of the “narrator dog” does produce a curdled laugh, but it does so on its way to a truly nihilistic punchline.

And yet as that proverb warns, one unfortunately can’t rule out a sequel.

Strays Rated R for relentless language, crude humor and gore. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters.

An earlier version of this review misstated a type of dog in “Strays.” Reggie is a Border terrier, not a mutt. The error was repeated in a picture caption.

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Full disclosure, right off the top: I knew I was going to be a soft touch on “Strays.”

We’re a longtime Boston Terrier family, and I’ve always wondered what our dogs would sound like if they could talk to us. (Surely, I’m not the only one who entertains such insane ideas.) So the prospect of an R-rated comedy in which Jamie Foxx provides the voice of a street-smart Boston named Bug—who drops copious F-bombs, gets high on mushrooms, and humps discarded couches—was very exciting.

“Strays” is pretty much a one-joke movie, one last romp at the end of summer. But it finds enough ways into that joke within its perfectly pithy running time to remain zippy and enjoyable. The way it upends heartwarming dog adventure movie tropes is often hilariously inspired. And there’s great chemistry within the voice cast, particularly between Foxx and star Will Ferrell , who had the unusual benefit of recording together.

Director Josh Greenbaum has shown a flair for out-there comedy with a sweetness at its core in the delightfully bizarre “ Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar ” (2021). He achieves a similar balance with raunchier material in “Strays.” Besides featuring a ton of profanity, the screenplay from Dan Perrault includes plenty of poop and pee jokes (not all of which are entirely puerile), vigorous humping, and some wilderness mayhem that some may find shocking. But the film also explores the importance of identifying and escaping toxic relationships, achieving a sense of self-worth, and basking in the support of deep and unexpected friendships.

I may have teared up a few times. Like I said at the start, a soft touch. Your mileage may vary on this canine road trip.

“Strays” begins on an upbeat note with narration from Ferrell as Reggie, an adorably scruffy Border terrier who’s clueless to the fact that his miserable, abusive owner ( Will Forte ) hates him and keeps trying to abandon him. “Today is going to be the best day ever!” he intones in a sunny manner reminiscent of Margot Robbie ’s optimism at the start of “ Barbie .” And totally coincidentally, “Strays” shares a similar structure to Greta Gerwig ’s mega-blockbuster: Idealistic character leaves home, goes to the “real world,” makes friends, and learns hard truths before returning to fix things with the newfound knowledge. Only in this case, the protagonist’s purpose is literally to bite off his owner’s penis, a more violent form of eviscerating the patriarchy than Barbie ever could imagine. Ferrell is essentially doing a version of his character in “ Elf ” here, mixing wide-eyed enthusiasm with deadpan observations and bringing his signature sincerity to a silly role. As always, he’s a hoot.

After his owner dumps him in a faraway city, Reggie gets help in his quest from the trash-talking Bug, who insists he wants to be a stray and navigates the world with the swagger of a little dog who thinks he’s big. Foxx has fantastic energy here, savoring the musicality of his character’s every profane tirade. Along for the trip are the Australian shepherd Maggie ( Isla Fisher ), a gifted sniffer, and a Great Dane named Hunter ( Randall Park ), a former police K-9 who now works as a therapy dog for the elderly.

Cursing and calamitous antics ensue, much of which you’ve probably already seen in the trailer, but thankfully there are plenty of surprises in store. 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. Is it too much to ask for total realism in a late-summer talking dog movie?  

The gross-out gags may grow a bit repetitive, but “Strays” ultimately redeems itself by ending on a note that’s feel-good without being cloying. It features some amusing insights into how dogs perceive the world, from fireworks to postal workers. And it just might make you think twice about what that pampered Pomeranian in the expensive sweater is barking about at the dog park.

Now playing in theaters. 

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film credits.

Strays (2023)

Rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use.

Will Ferrell as Reggie (voice)

Jamie Foxx as Bug (voice)

Will Forte as Doug

Isla Fisher as Maggie (voice)

Randall Park as Hunter (voice)

Harvey Guillén

Brett Gelman

Jamie Demetriou

Sofía Vergara as Deliliah the Couch (voice)

• Josh Greenbaum
• Dan Perrault

Cinematographer

• Greg Hayden
• Sabrina Plisco
• David Rennie
• Dara Taylor

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'Strays' review: Will Ferrell's hilarious dog movie puts raunchy spin on 'Homeward Bound'

Every so often when writing movie reviews by a pair of snuggly and often snoring Boston Terriers, one wonders what they’d say if given the opportunity – perhaps “I love you, now stop typing and throw that tennis ball.” The new talking-dog movie “Strays” explores that same idea and the results are hilarious, heartwarming and outrageously filthy.

Like “Homeward Bound” with masturbation jokes and randy squirrels, the wry and raunchy comedy (★★★ out of four; rated R; in theaters now ) stars Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx as a pair of canine besties on an epic journey with their woof pack to bite a man in his private parts.

There are running gags about the size of doggy genitalia, nonstop cursing, plus a psychedelic trip involving a couch named Dolores, and director Josh Greenbaum (“Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar”) unleashes both unruly shenanigans and big-hearted feels without being obnoxious or cloying. 

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A Border Terrier named Reggie (voiced by Ferrell) lives in a rural small town with his cruel owner Doug (Will Forte), who blames the scruffy little guy for everything that’s gone wrong in his life. Naive and optimistic to a fault, Reggie love-love-loves Doug and every time his human tries to ditch him, he sees it as a game. But when Doug drops him in the big city and speeds away, Reggie begins to worry about not only getting home but surviving.

He’s saved from a couple of huge canine bruisers by Bug (Foxx), a street-smart Boston who teaches Reggie the rules of being a stray: Pee on something if you want it, hump whatever you’d like, and enjoy the freedom of being on your own. Bug then introduces his new BFF to a couple of pals. Hunter the Great Dane (Randall Park) is an anxiety-ridden, cone-wearing therapy dog who washed out of K-9 police training, while Maggie (Isla Fisher), an Australian Shepherd with a gifted sniffer, is a house pet who resents a younger puppy getting all the love from her people.

With a new perspective and a fresh sense of anger, Reggie sets out to take revenge on Doug and his confidants come with him on a humorous Homeric odyssey, tussling with a hungry eagle, running afoul of animal control and munching some seriously funky mushrooms. 

Talking dog movies are a polarizing genre, mainly because chatty animals with moving mouths can be pretty weird. You get used to it fairly quickly here, though, as you fall for the lovable main characters. (While cute critter flicks are usually family-friendly, this one is decidedly not for kids.) Reggie is an adorably complex dude, Bug is the film’s chief scene-stealer, and Hunter and Maggie are loyal pals crushing on each other with a “Will they or won’t they?” sexual tension. In addition to using computer-generated animals, Greenbaum has real dogs playing the main characters so you’re much more invested in their quest than, say, the special-effects pooch of “The Call of the Wild.”

The screenplay by Dan Perrault (“American Vandal”) also tries to get into the mind of dogs in a really insightful way. Often it’s for a humorous bit like Bug’s twirly routine to lay down and take a nap, the gossipy goings-on at the local dog park, or one truly astounding display of feces. But there’s also a whole scene devoted to what goes through a canine mind when fireworks are going off that’s simply brilliant. Obviously, folks will come for pups dropping f-bombs and mad drug trips straight out of “21 Jump Street,” though it’s aspects like Bug’s profound backstory that put some real meat on the bone. 

“Strays” is definitely a treat, especially for dog lovers who will howl with laughter and also cry at its empathetic understanding that we all, furry or otherwise, just want to be loved. And after seeing it, a lick from your best friend means more than ever before.

New movies to see this weekend: Watch DC's 'Blue Beetle,' embrace dog movie 'Strays'

Review: Off the chain and ready to sniff you up, ‘Strays’ is, at root, a typical tail of vengeance

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What to make of “Strays,” a proudly raunchy, decidedly R-rated comedy about a pack of stray dogs on a brash journey of revenge against one’s abusive owner? As the film’s widely seen red-band trailer makes clear, it’s a live-action talking-dog picture definitely not for kids. But is it compelling enough to fetch older audiences, even the staunchest pup lovers?

Take out its wall-to-wall F-bombs, envelope-pushing scatological humor and often gross and, in one key case, deeply disturbing visuals, and you’re pretty much left with an amusing if rote story of well-meaning animals learning lessons on the road. Think “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey” or the more recent “A Dog’s Way Home” but with the furry main characters having their way with couches and garden art, tripping on magic mushrooms, and spouting poop and penis jokes.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum ( “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” ), written by Dan Perrault (Netflix’s “American Vandal” ) and deftly voiced by a cast of comic pros, the film finds an unflaggingly upbeat, 2-year-old border terrier named Reggie (Will Ferrell, in “Elf” mode ) abandoned by his dirtbag dog-dad, Doug ( Will Forte ), on some mean city streets three hours from their ramshackle home. Doug always detested Reggie and only ended up the owner of the sweet pup to spite his ex-girlfriend, who loved the dog but learned to hate the two-timing Doug.

No number of pushy laughs here can make Doug’s mistreatment of Reggie seem anything less than appalling, even if — or especially because — the pooch misguidedly believes his owner adores him, and that Doug’s efforts to lose him are just a fun game. Many of the dog’s-eye-view observations here are droll and relatable, but this isn’t one of them; it’s just sad.

Once left on his own, Reggie quickly falls in with Bug ( Jamie Foxx ), a tough, potty-mouthed Boston terrier with a fierce independent streak and strict set of rules that doesn’t include humans. Reggie and Bug are the classic odd couple, and it doesn’t take a psychic to predict these two fast friends will change (and maybe even save) each other’s lives by journey’s end. It’s a satisfying relationship to watch unfold and one of the film’s better elements.

With the added help of Bug’s stray pals — Hunter ( Randall Park ), an anxious, neck-cone-wearing Great Dane, and Maggie ( Isla Fisher ), a smart Australian shepherd with a super sense of smell — Reggie begins to see how Doug is nothing but a cruel, pet-loathing lowlife. The pack then bands together to find its way back to Doug’s house, where Reggie will punish his ex-owner by chomping off his beloved genitals. If you don’t find this prospect even remotely funny or tolerable, this isn’t the flick for you.

En route, we’re treated to a hit-or-miss barrage of comedic bits involving a pizza-and-beer blowout, crazy-making fireworks, a rapacious eagle, a four-way urination ritual, a smeary dog-pound escape, an unfortunate (and frankly disturbing) rabbit incident and much else. There’s also plenty of goofy, no-holds-barred canine conversation (CGI was effectively used to animate the dogs’ mouths) about everything from territory-marking and why humans scoop up after their pups, to theories about the hounds’ not-so-private parts. A scene in which the dogs all frantically spin in circles before finding a suitable sleeping position should tickle any pooch parent.

Still, the swearing and gross-out humor loses its bite after a while. We’re left with an at times heartfelt and enjoyably observed story that may hold interest with more patient viewers but, due to some episodic scene work and slack pacing, leave others restless. And lest anyone think the movie’s randy-animals conceit is especially groundbreaking, more than 50 years ago came the hyper-bawdy counterculture classic “Fritz the Cat,” (“He’s X-rated and animated!” went the tagline).

Kudos to the “Strays” animal training team, led by Mark Forbes (“A Dog’s Purpose”), which clearly had its work cut out for it. And to the dogs themselves (voiced by Josh Gad, Harvey Guillén, Rob Riggle, Greta Lee and others), who are adorable and engaging even when they’re doing and saying the darnedest things — except during that climactic payback sequence at Doug’s. Beware.

'Strays'

Rating: R, for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes. Playing: In general release.

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2023, Comedy, 1h 33m

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Critics Consensus

Crudely effective and effectively crude, Strays is more amusing than hilarious, but this comedy's scattershot humor is partly offset by its surprisingly big heart. Read critic reviews

Audience Says

Strays is funny enough to recommend as a raunchy good time -- just know that it definitely isn't for kids or the easily offended. Read audience reviews

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Strays videos, strays   photos.

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. When Reggie (Will Ferrell), a naïve, relentlessly optimistic Border Terrier, is abandoned on the mean city streets by his lowlife owner, Doug (Will Forte; The Last Man on Earth, Nebraska), Reggie is certain that his beloved owner would never leave him on purpose. But once Reggie falls in with a fast-talking, foul-mouthed Boston Terrier named Bug (Oscar® winner Jamie Foxx), a stray who loves his freedom and believes that owners are for suckers, Reggie finally realizes he was in a toxic relationship and begins to see Doug for the heartless sleazeball that he is. Determined to seek revenge, Reggie, Bug and Bug's pals--Maggie (Isla Fisher; Now You See Me, Wedding Crashers), a smart Australian Shepherd who has been sidelined by her owner's new puppy, and Hunter (Randall Park; Always Be My Maybe, Aquaman), an anxious Great Dane who's stressed out by his work as an emotional support animal--together hatch a plan and embark on an epic adventure to help Reggie find his way home... and make Doug pay by biting off the appendage he loves the most. (Hint: It's not his foot.)

Rating: R (Drug Use|Crude and Sexual Content|Pervasive Language)

Genre: Comedy

Original Language: English

Director: Josh Greenbaum

Producer: Erik Feig , Louis Leterrier , Phil Lord , Chris Miller , Aditya Sood , Dan Perrault , Josh Greenbaum

Writer: Dan Perrault

Release Date (Theaters): Aug 18, 2023  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Sep 5, 2023

Box Office (Gross USA): $23.9M

Runtime: 1h 33m

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Production Co: Universal Pictures, Rabbit Hole Productions, Gloria Sanchez Productions, Picturestart, Lord Miller, Universal Animation Studios

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

Cast & Crew

Will Ferrell

Reggie Voice

Isla Fisher

Maggie Voice

Randall Park

Hunter Voice

Harvey Guillén

Shitstain Voice

Brett Gelman

Jamie Demetriou

Chester Voice

Sofía Vergara

Dolores The Couch Voice

Hedy Nasser

Tyler Antonius

Hannah Alline

Jade Fernandez

Tinashe Kajese

Charity Cervantes

Dan Perrault

Doug's Doctor

Josh Greenbaum

Screenwriter

Louis Leterrier

Chris Miller

Aditya Sood

Jessica Switch

Executive Producer

Nikki Baida

Julia Hammer

Cinematographer

Dara Taylor

Original Music

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‘Strays’ Review: Foul-Mouthed Dogs Teach Humans a Few New Tricks in Original Talking-Dog Comedy

Will Ferrell leads a voice cast including Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher and Randall Park in an R-rated spin on a genre typically aimed at kids — but decidedly not kid-friendly this time around.

By Todd Gilchrist

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Pet owners spend an inordinate amount of time imagining, ascribing, even acting out the behaviors of their animals. “ Strays ” feels like the natural — if comically exaggerated — extension of that impulse, chronicling the personality of a border terrier named Reggie as he and three canine pals make an arduous trek back to Reggie’s owner, along with all of the attendant misunderstandings and misinterpretations about the human world around them.

Will Ferrell , firmly in Buddy the Elf mode, provides the voice of Reggie, a naive terrier who worships his abusive, largely despicable owner Doug (Will Forte). Doug kept Reggie after his ex-girlfriend caught him cheating, and spends his days tormenting the dog, whose only crime was finding the evidence. After Doug drives Reggie to a neighboring city and drops him in an alley with the assumption he won’t be able to find his way home, Reggie begins to gently wonder if the love they share isn’t quite as mutual as he once believed. His skepticism is further encouraged after meeting Bug ( Jamie Foxx ), a Boston terrier with a deep-rooted mistrust for humans who teaches Reggie about the joys of being a stray.

Introduced to Australian shepherd Maggie (Isla Fisher) and therapy Great Dane Hunter (Randall Park), Reggie goes on a stray bender with Bug before deciding that he wants to return to Doug — though not for a tearful reunion, but for revenge. The other dogs agree to guide him through the unfamiliar and hazardous terrain between the big city where he was dropped off and Doug’s dilapidated small-town digs, encountering various other fauna (including Dennis Quaid) that bewilder and perplex them. As the quartet makes its descent upon Doug’s home, Reggie’s resolve to follow through on his mission begins to falter, prompting each of them to question who they are as a dog and what sort of relationship they actually want with their human counterparts.

Greenbaum is more than a ringleader behind the camera. Though he stages some really fun sequences that hilariously leverage the differences between the dogs (in particular involving the well-endowed but insecure Hunter), he also keeps the animal chaos on a short enough leash to maintain those emotional throughlines. As producers, Lord and Miller have always had a great sense of how far to let a comedic bit go before pulling back, and their touch here is palpable as the dogs indulge in drug trips and scatological digressions that are very funny but almost always exercise the audience’s feelings as much as their funny bones. That the movie wraps up its business in just over 90 minutes is also an enormous virtue, but the fact that Greenbaum and his collaborators elicit genuine emotion while also racing through some very inventive beats for a road trip comedy is a testament to how expertly they handle the material.

As for the cast, all of the voice actors feel like pinch hitters — easy with a joke or comeback, great at improvising to match the behavior of their four-legged counterpart — with Ferrell at the center of it providing the perfectly ebullient vocal accompaniment to Reggie’s dopey, cheerful little face. Meanwhile, Forte is appropriately loathsome as only the once and future MacGruber can be, while also seeming to recognize that he’s fifth on the call sheet. But beyond the (possible) insights these performances provide about the way that dogs process the world around them (regarding the mailman, one of them says, “you smell like too many homes and I can’t trust that”), “Strays” manages to avoid the ranks of other lost-animal movies, or even this summer’s thickening slate of R-rated comedies, because it illuminates deeper and more relatable truths about how humans can navigate their own relationships.

Reviewed at Sepulveda Screening Room, Aug. 9, 2023. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 93 MIN.

• Production: A Universal Pictures release and presentation of a Gloria Sanchez, Lord Miller, Picturestart, Rabbit Hole production. Producers: Erik Feig, Louis Leterrier, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Dan Perrault, Aditya Sood. Executive producers: Nikki Baida, Julia Hammer, Douglas C. Merrifield, Jessica Switch.
• Crew: Director: Josh Greenbaum. Screenplay: Dan Perrault. Camera: Tim Orr. Editors: Greg Hayden, Sabrina Plisco, David Rennie. Music: Dara Taylor.
• With: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Will Forte, Brett Gelman, Rob Riggle, Josh Gad, Sophia Vergara.
• Music By: Dara Taylor

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A Very Silly Movie About Some Very Good Dogs

The raunchy talking-animals comedy Strays contains a warm core about the unconditional love of pets. Who can be mad about that?

Early on in the raunchy talking-animals comedy Strays , a montage plays of four dogs humping inanimate lawn ornaments, guzzling beer leaking from trash bags, and bonding over a plan to bite off a man’s genitals. It’s an inartfully staged sequence, packed with sophomoric jokes and enough f-bombs to rival a Quentin Tarantino film. On the other hand: Will you look at those sweet, scruffy faces! Those little paws! Sure, their CGI-ed mouths appear a bit strange and the canines do not seem to be making direct eye contact with one another, but they each deserve belly rubs and every single treat ever. How can anyone dislike a scene in which the goodest dogs are having the best time? Indeed, halfway through my screening, I glanced at my notes and realized that I’d drawn a series of smiley faces.

That’s all to say that Strays knows what it’s doing with its choice to follow a furry foursome, which saves the film from being an exercise in pure nonsense—at least for the dog-lovers in the audience. Hollywood makes plenty of absurd movies built on underbaked premises: This year, Cocaine Bear , Mafia Mamma , and 65 come to mind. Amid such a mediocre pack, you could do worse than a 93-minute film that, for all its obscene humor and gratuitous violence, contains a softhearted center about—what else?—the unconditional love of pets.

Then again, you could also do much better—and much funnier. Strays , despite being billed as an “R-rated comedy with bite,” is rather tame. (Sorry.) The story follows a Border Terrier named Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), who, after being abandoned by his pot-smoking loser owner, Doug (Will Forte), meets Bug (Jamie Foxx as a tough Boston terrier), Maggie (Isla Fisher as a smart Australian shepherd), and Hunter (Randall Park as a shy Great Dane). The group shows Reggie how to live without human supervision, and teaches him to accept that Doug was never kind to him—a revelation that kicks off a journey to make the former owner pay for his abuse.

Along the way, the four get involved in predictable misbehavior—drug-induced hijinks, gross-out gags—while indulging in endless dog-based jokes. The best ones involve highly specific jabs at dog-movie tropes, including a cameo that sends up A Dog’s Purpose and a scene involving a Homeward Bound– like, sentimental “narrator dog.” The worst involve asinine puns: At one point, the group debates what “regular style” means when it comes to dog sex.

Read: What do dogs know about us?

The director, Josh Greenbaum, isn’t trying to deliver the winsome charms of his last effort, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar , a comedy about best friendship and coastal vacations that’s already becoming a cult classic. Instead, it strives for a not unpleasant brain-numbing effect on par with, say, falling down an online rabbit hole of cute animal videos. Strays achieves that result, to an extent. By the final act of the film, I had stopped taking notes altogether, defeated by the relentlessness of the movie’s profanity and poop-based imagery. I—and the audience I was with—laughed at a scene involving Maggie attempting to tell knock-knock jokes, only for the other dogs to respond with a chorus of woofs. I chuckled when Hunter said the word howling because he could not actually howl, and when Bug yelled “Fuck you, leaf!” at a leaf.

At the time, I could not really explain why this was so funny. In an attempt to pull myself together, I started thinking about what it meant that I was enjoying Strays ; is this what “original” means now, for films to be made out of scenes that seem destined to become memes? Are the movie gods balancing the scales of narrative richness after the highs of Barbie and Oppenheimer ? Has the relentless crush of being too online made me the perfect target to appreciate the juvenile humor of cute characters cursing? Should every movie just star dogs? Would it work with cats? (Not if they’re played by humans .)

I know: I’ve overthought Strays . The movie is, in the end, deeply unserious and completely mindless, but still strangely sweet. It is late-summer schlock, featuring an ensemble of four-legged animals who have done nothing wrong ever in their lives. It’s a reminder, if nothing else, that an adorable protagonist embarking on a hero’s journey goes a long way. It doesn’t matter if Strays is good. Because those dogs? They’re very good dogs.

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From Lassie and Rin Tin Tin to 101 Dalmatians, Old Yeller, My Dog Skip, Homeward Bound, A Dog’s Purpose and on and on, the canine genre has been a staple of Hollywood movies for decades. I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone got the idea to make a balls-out, foul-mouthed, R-rated subversion of it all, and finally its time has come with the irresistible Strays , a film definitely not designed as a family movie or for kids — though I would bet, despite the language and nonstop dick jokes, they would love it anyway.

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It all starts with the sweet, ever optimistic Border Terrier, Reggie ( Will Ferrell ) who believes his human, Doug (Will Forte) loves him but just can’t see what we can. Doug is a total lowlife loser who mistreats the naive Reggie and repeatedly keeps trying to get rid of him by driving him out into desolate areas, throwing a tennis ball, and then speeding away. Reggie always finds his way back until the despicable Doug drops him off in an abandoned building miles away and leaves the poor pup to his own devices. Suddenly he is a confused stray, alone in the city, until coming in contact with the street-smart Bug ( Jamie Foxx ), a tough talking Boston Terrier who thinks it is the humans who are the problem, not the dog as Reggie believes. Bug soon sets him straight and sets him on his way to a new life with his friends, a smart and sexy Australian Shepherd ( Isla Fisher ) who has been pushed aside for a new puppy in her family, and a nervous Great Dane named Hunter ( Randall Park ), an emotional support dog who failed police training and now wears a cone to keep him from anxiously chewing on his rather large male appendage.

Writer Dan Perrault goes for the gutter in much of the dialogue and situations, but importantly he does not forget the heart of it all, and ultimately we are really rooting for these four-legged friends to find happiness and their forever homes. There isn’t a mean bone in Strays except for Forte’s disgusting Doug, and boy does he ever get his in the end (or should I say the front) . Director Josh Greenbaum and his production team pull it all off with technical expertise, a real feat since the dogs are the focus for all 93 minutes of this fast-moving comedy. Ferrell and Foxx are pitch perfect in their voice work, but Fisher and Park really are the scene stealers on the vocal side. You have to applaud Forte, a genuinely nice guy most of the time, for taking on such an evil guy, but he doesn’t hold back. We hate Doug. Brett Gelman as Willy, an animal control officer, also is appropriately pathetic. Josh Gad, Harvey Guillen, Jamie Demetriou and Sofia Vergara (as a couch for humping!) are other voices along the way, with a nice turn from Rob Riggle as Rolf, a German Shepherd police dog on the hunt for a missing girl scout. There is also a very brief cameo from a certain A Dog’s Purpose star that gets a big laugh.

Producers are Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Erik Feig, Aditya Sood, Louis Letterier and Perrault.

Title: Strays Release date: August 18, 2023 Distributor: Universal Pictures Director: Josh Greenbaum Screenwriter: Dan Perrault Cast: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Brett Gelman, Will Forte, Josh Gad, Harvey Guillen, Rob Riggle, Jamie Demetriou, Sofia Vergara Rating: R Running time: 1 hr 33 min

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'Strays': Release Date, Trailer, Cast, and Everything You Need to Know About the R-Rated Talking-Dog Comedy

These dogs will be saying a lot more than just "Woof."

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When did 'strays' come out, is 'strays' available on streaming, watch the 'strays' trailers, what is 'strays' about, who stars in 'strays', who is making 'strays', when did 'strays' film, why is 'strays' rated r, the big picture.

• Strays is an edgy talking dog movie from the creative team of R-rated comedies like Ted and Sausage Party .
• The film is set to be released in the prime month of August and could be one of the biggest comedy hits of 2023.
• Strays features an impressive cast, including Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx , and revolves around a revenge-seeking dog who teams up with a pack of strays.

In the spirit of The Secret Life of Pets , Homeward Bound , Cats & Dogs , Milo & Otis , and Mr. Peabody & Sherman ; a new talking dog movie has been gifted to us, but unlike those squeaky-clean movies meant for families, Strays has a lot more of an edge. Similar to how Ted , Sausage Party , The Happytime Murders , and Good Boys took particular concepts that are traditionally seen as kid-friendly and morphed them into raunchy R-rated comedies, this new comedy looks to follow in those films' footsteps, but of course, it's much cuter.

From talking dogs that curse, a creative team that includes some of Hollywood's best and brightest when it comes to comedy both behind and in front of the camera, and a release date in the heat of summer 2023, Strays was one of the most anticipated big-screen comedies of the year. Here's your guide to Strays . Now go fetch that stick!

Editor's Note: This piece was updated on November 7, 2023.

Strays was initially slated to release on June 9, 2023. The film would've opened against Transformers: Rise of the Beasts , the seventh entry in Paramount's highly successful franchise. However, Universal ultimately decided to push the film back a little over two months to August 18, 2023 , a date they previously reserved for Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain . Strays opened up against the DC Comics movie Blue Beetle and MGM's sci-fi satire Landscape with Invisible Hand .

Typically, when a major studio slots a comedy for the summer it means they're confident in the film and that seems to be the case with Universal and Strays . Director Josh Greenbaum spoke of the film's test screenings in an interview with Collider's own Steve Weintraub .

"So yeah, our very first preview was a joy for me and the studio and everyone watching because it tested very, very well, particularly for a first screening, but also just in our climactic kind of moment, we had full applause and full hooting and hollering. I was like, "Oh, this is working." So really exciting and positive, and I can only assume, that will continue. But it was really fun and it's been a while since we did those previews."

Strays ended up having an underwhelming box office run making only $35.4 million worldwide off of a $45 million budget.

While Universal is one of the few studios left to send some of their films to their streaming service day-and-date with theaters , or even just sending their films exclusively to streaming , Strays initially received an exclusive theatrical release.

The film became available to stream on Peacock in early October 2023.

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Once Strays leaves Peacock, it will be available to stream on Prime Video.

The official trailer for Strays was released by Universal Pictures on February 8, 2023. Whilst namedropping hit comedies like 21 Jump Street and Ted , the very R-Rated trailer is full of the ragtag group of dogs dropping f-bombs, drinking alcohol, humping garden gnomes, and ingesting mushrooms. There is also a sock puppet involved because you can never go wrong with sock puppets.

A green-band trailer for Strays labeled the "Official F***ing Trailer" was released on March 15, 2023. The trailer didn't offer any new footage, but instead, it's the same as the red-band trailer, except every curse word is bleeped out with emojis covering each of the characters' mouths.

Universal released the second official trailer for Strays on July 26. While the plethora of curse words are all censored throughout the trailer, the trailer still promised all the raunchiness and crudeness that the original red-band trailer promised.

A behind-the-scenes featurette for Strays was released by Universal Pictures on July 31, featuring the cast and the film's director talking about what attracted them to the project and hinting at the film's mix of heart and crudeness.

Universal then followed up on August 3 with another featurette, this one introducing lead dog Reggie.

Strays follows Reggie, an overly peppy Border Terrier who loves his owner Doug, even though he's a beer-guzzling, abusive, heartless lowlife who wants nothing to do with the precious little pooch. When Reggie is abandoned in the city streets, he teams up with a pack of stray dogs to get revenge on Doug... by biting his penis off.

Read on for the official synopsis from Universal:

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. When Reggie (Will Ferrell), a naïve, relentlessly optimistic Border Terrier, is abandoned on the mean city streets by his lowlife owner, Doug (Will Forte; The Last Man on Earth, Nebraska), Reggie is certain that his beloved owner would never leave him on purpose. But once Reggie falls in with a fast-talking, foul-mouthed Boston Terrier named Bug (Oscar® winner Jamie Foxx), a stray who loves his freedom and believes that owners are for suckers, Reggie finally realizes he was in a toxic relationship and begins to see Doug for the heartless sleazeball that he is. Determined to seek revenge, Reggie, Bug and Bug’s pals—Maggie (Isla Fisher; Now You See Me, Wedding Crashers), a smart Australian Shepherd who has been sidelined by her owner’s new puppy, and Hunter (Randall Park; Always Be My Maybe, Aquaman), an anxious Great Dane who’s stressed out by his work as an emotional support animal—together hatch a plan and embark on an epic adventure to help Reggie find his way home … and make Doug pay by biting off the appendage he loves the most. (Hint: It’s not his foot). A subversion of the dog movies we know and love, Strays, directed by Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) and written by Dan Perrault (Players, American Vandal), is a hilarious, R-rated, live-action comedy about the complications of love, the importance of great friendships, and the unexpected virtues of couch humping.

Strays features an impressive cast, and it's headlined by two names that are regarded as comedy royalty: Will Ferrell and Academy Award Winner Jamie Foxx . Ferrell rose to fame on the big screen with hit comedies such as Elf , the Anchorman films, Old School , Step Brothers , and Spirited . Ferrell most recently starred as the CEO Mattel in Greta Gerwig 's critically acclaimed box office sensation Barbie . Ferrell lends his voice to Reggie, the main dog at the center of the film. As for Ferrell's canine counterpart, Sophie, a Border Terrier, played the role of Reggie on set, with her double being a dog named Boy.

After getting his start on In Living Color , Jamie Foxx has become one of the biggest and most talented names in Hollywood and has starred in films across all genres including Ray , Collateral , Django Unchained , Baby Driver , the Horrible Bosses films, Dreamgirls , and he played the supervillain Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home . Foxx most recently starred in the hit Netflix sci-fi comedy They Cloned Tyrone as well as the courtroom dramedy The Burial . In Strays , Foxx voices Bug, a Boston Terrier who takes Reggie under his wing. On set Benny, a Boston Terrier, played Bug, with his double being a dog pup named Fly.

Other members of the main cast of Strays include Will Forte ( The Last Man on Earth ) as Doug, one of the few human roles, Randall Park ( WandaVision ) as Hunter, an anxious Great Dane who wears a cone, and Isla Fisher ( Wedding Crashers ) as Maggie, an Australian Shepard. Elsa, an Australian Shepherd, played Maggie on set, with her backup being a dog named Riley. A Great Dane named Dalin played Hunter on set.

The cast list of Strays doesn't end there either, the film also stars Josh Gad ( Frozen ) as Gus, the Labrador Retriever, Harvey Guillén ( Puss in Boots: The Last Wish ) as Shitstain, a Chihuahua, Rob Riggle ( 21 Jump Street ) as Rolf, a German Shepherd, Brett Gelman ( Stranger Things ) as Willy, a cruel Animal Control officer, Jamie Demetriou ( The Afterparty ) as Chester, a bulldog, and Sofia Vergara ( Modern Family ) as Dolores The Couch. The film also features Dennis Quaid ( The Day After Tomorrow ) making a cameo as himself.

Serving as the director of Strays is Josh Greenbaum. Greenbaum rose to prominence by directing documentaries such as The Short Game , Becoming Bond , and Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of the Dana Carvey Show . He later made his feature directorial debut with the 2021 cult hit comedy Barb & Star Go to Vista del Mar which starred Kristen Wiig , Annie Mumolo , and Jamie Dornan .

The film's screenplay comes from Dan Perrault who co-created the short-lived but beloved Netflix mockumentary series American Vandal as well as the Paramount+ mockumentary series Players , he also serves as a producer on the film. Phil Lord and Chris Miller , the duo known for the Jump Street films, The Lego Movie , and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse serve as producers on the film alongside Aditya Sood ( Cocaine Bear ), Erik Feig ( Cha Cha Real Smooth ), and Louis Leterrier ( Fast X ).

Dara Taylor ( Barb & Star Go to Vista del Mar ) composed the score for the film while Tim Orr ( Fleishman Is in Trouble ) served as the cinematographer.

Strays was filmed back in September 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia and production wrapped the following December. An effects-heavy film such as Strays usually has an extensive post-production process, but Greenbaum revealed to Collider in February 2023, that filming was 100% complete.

"We're done. Yeah, we are finished, which feels nice. It was a long post because of all the VFX. We had enough time to keep, like I mentioned, rewriting, and depending on what the dogs did in the footage versus what… You know, we might see a shot and say, "Oh, there's a joke we can use from that weird moment that happened," or whatever improv happened with the actors. But no, we're all finished."

Interestingly, while Ferrell, Foxx, Fisher, and Park weren't on the set for the film, Greenbaum tried to get them to record all of their lines together.

"Maybe one aspect that [is] surprising to the average person is, I worked really hard once we got our incredible cast together – Will Ferrell and Jamie Fox and Isla Fisher and Randall Park – I got them together for most of their voice sessions. That was really important to me. I don't know if there was a session with Will or Jamie where at least the other person wasn't there, because they're the two main characters, and that was really huge."

As previously mentioned and as you can probably tell from the trailer, Strays is rated R, so it might be best to not let your little ones watch this raunchy new comedy. As can be seen on the film's official poster and on the thumbnail for the trailer the film is rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use. Woof.

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Strays review: a one-trick dog comedy

“Strays is a sporadically funny, but frustratingly one-note R-rated comedy.”

• Exceptionally well-cast vocal performances
• Several laugh-out-loud moments
• Numerous gross-out moments that land with a thud
• A second act that drags
• A one-note, raunchy sense of humor

With Strays , what you see is what you get. The film’s trailers have sold it as an R-rated comedy about a bunch of foul-mouthed dogs who decide to try and get revenge on a nasty previous owner. It is, for better or worse, exactly that. Directed by Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar director Josh Greenbaum and produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Strays is a raunchy comedy that tries to mine as much as it possibly can from the mere idea that dogs’ inner thoughts might not be nearly as sanitized as humans like to think.

If that sounds like a small resource for a 95-minute comedy to try and sustain itself on, that’s because it is. Strays is, in many ways, the same few jokes repeated over and over again for an hour-and-a-half. In certain instances, it works as a perfectly enjoyable, admirably vulgar studio comedy, bhe cumulative effect of the film could better be described as mildly irritating rather than laugh-out-loud funny. Ultimately, the movie is a minor, forgettable effort for all involved, including its selection of well-cast voice actors.

Strays doesn’t waste any time setting up its story. In its thankfully succinct prologue, the film introduces viewers to Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), a scrappy young dog who is blindly in love with his abusive, self-involved owner, Doug (Will Forte). When Doug, who spends more time getting high and complaining about his life than he does taking care of Reggie, realizes that he’s on the verge of being evicted, he decides to rid himself of his dog owner responsibilities once and for all. In order to do so, he gets into the habit of driving Reggie miles away from his house and throwing a tennis ball into the distance in the hope that he’ll be able to leave his dog completely stranded.

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One day, Doug succeeds when he drops Reggie off in a city hours away from their home. Reggie, still as innocent as ever, quickly strikes up a friendship with one of the city’s other stray dogs, Bug (voiced by Jamie Foxx), whose bad attitude, but undying loyalty makes him an ideal companion for Ferrell’s naive pup. As Bug tries to explain what stray life can be like to Reggie, he introduces him to two of his closest friends: a therapy dog named Hunter (voiced by Randall Park) and Maggie (voiced by Isla Fisher), the frustrated first dog of a social media-obsessed influencer.

While Bug, Hunter, and Maggie succeed in making Reggie feel welcome in their city, they aren’t as successful in getting his former owner out of his mind. On the contrary, he decides he needs to find his way back to Doug so that he can violently repay him for all the abuse that was unloaded on him over the years. When Maggie, Hunter, and Bug subsequently agree to accompany him on his mission, they unexpectedly set out on a journey filled with more outlandish moments, bathroom jokes, and twists of fate than even the most prepared viewer will likely see coming. Unfortunately, not all of Strays ’ second-act gags work as well as the few that do.

The film’s most successful jokes include a subversive reference to the Josh Gad-starring A Dog’s Purpose movies from 2017 and 2019, which present a far sweeter version of a canine’s everyday life than Strays . The reference in question comes near the film’s midpoint and it takes a turn that not only comes out of nowhere, but packs a greater sustained punch than nearly every other joke that Strays has to offer. The film’s other noteworthy highlight, meanwhile, is an acid trip sequence that’s easily Strays ‘ most experimental and visually ambitious — and it pays off in a way that is both fittingly mean-spirited and genuinely funny.

One of the reasons why Strays ’ hallucinatory drug trip sequence lands as well as it does is that it’s one of the few moments in the film where Greenbaum seems genuinely comfortable with changing up its otherwise flat visual language. For most of its runtime, Strays is forced by the very nature of its story to adopt as low-key a visual style as possible, one that allows Greenbaum and company to constantly highlight the surprisingly expressive faces of its four canine leads. That problem, while largely unavoidable, just makes Strays ’ slowest sections all the more noticeable.

Despite its relatively short runtime, there are stretches throughout Strays ’ second and third acts that drag, usually as a direct result of the film’s one-note sense of humor. Its few highlights and admirable creative swings aside, Strays fails to find consistently new and satisfying ways to mine comedy out of its paper-thin premise. In order to try and make up for that fact, the movie relies on the kind of poop and pee jokes that are both painfully obvious and ineffective. Strays is, therefore, exactly the film that you likely think it is.

If you found its premise and trailers intriguing, the odds are high that you’ll likely have a good time with Strays . If you didn’t, then you definitely won’t. There’s nothing deeper hiding beneath the surface of Strays , nor are there enough clever twists on its story to make it anything more than one of this year’s most forgettable studio comedies to date.

Strays is now playing in theaters.

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‘Strays’: A talking-dog movie that’s ruff going

Will ferrell and jamie foxx headline this raunchy tale of an abandoned dog’s quest to get revenge on his owner.

“Strays” is a live-action flick about talking canines. As a movie, it is not a good boy; it is a bad dog. But if I were currently 12, I might have reacted in a more positive way.

Here’s why: An R rating was forbidden fruit to me as a kid. (“Strays” reminded me of a lot of R-rated, 1980s films I snuck into theaters to see.)

The marketing for this movie has zeroed in on the film’s R rating: Bug, the pugnacious dog voiced by Jamie Foxx, is even holding the MPA box in his mouth on the poster, alerting you that the rating is for “pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use.” Nice use of that Oxford comma, MPA!

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Alas, I am not 12 anymore, which means most of the potty-humored jokes conceived by screenwriter Dan Perrault are either mildly amusing or not funny at all.

Additionally, the amount of profanity struck me as excessive, as if Perrault couldn’t think of anything clever for the pups to say, so he added five F-bombs to a sentence where two would have sufficed.

Since this is a family newspaper, I cannot describe the plot of “Strays” the way I want to describe it. I’m not sure if I can explain it at all without running afoul of my own professional MPA. I assure you the next line you read is cleaner than what I originally wrote.

“Strays” tells the story of an abandoned dog’s quest to bite off a very sensitive male part of the cruel owner who has deserted him.

Doug (Will Forte) is the vicious, weed-smoking slacker owner of Reggie (Will Ferrell), a ruggedly handsome canine he physically batters, cusses out, and repeatedly dumps in areas far from home. Reggie keeps finding his way back, which infuriates Doug to the point where he finally deserts him miles away.

Reggie meets Bug, a stray dog, and Bug’s friends Hunter (Randall Park) and the Aussie-accented Maggie (Isla Fisher), both of whom have homes. Hunter, a former police dog candidate, wears one of those cones they put on animals after surgery. Much is made about the size of a certain part of Hunter’s anatomy (hint: the same part Reggie wants to bite off Doug). Director Josh Greenbaum gives us numerous shots of Hunter’s endowment, highlighting how little this movie has to offer in the creativity department.

It’s Bug who convinces Reggie that Doug does not love him and has abandoned him for good. But it’s Reggie who comes up with his method of vengeance. The quartet head toward Doug’s place. Along the way, we are treated to mountains and mountains of dog poop and endless scenes of the stars humping inanimate objects.

Despite how little the actors are given to do, I liked the voice work enough to be a tad more forgiving than I should be. Foxx’s delivery is occasionally hilarious (his reading of “BLEEP you, leaf!” made me laugh hard enough to embarrass myself in the theater) and Ferrell finds a level of sweetness to Reggie that’s eventually at odds with his actions. Fisher and Park are cute as two neurotics who are sweet on each other.

I also admired how mean-spirited “Strays” is, if only because that characteristic put me on guard as to how far the filmmakers might go. It gets pretty nasty. This movie is more brutal to rabbits than “Watership Down,” and it features a bloody climactic scene that will send men in the audience running for the exits.

At least the plot’s nastiness kept me awake. If only the movie were a lot funnier.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum. Written by Dan Perrault. Starring Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Will Forte. 93 minutes. At AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square, suburbs. R (plenty of profanity, private parts, and poop)

Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.

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Strays review – a dog’s dinner

Josh Greenbaum reduces the glorious potential of canine humour to a stream of pee and poop gross-out gags, as a scruffy terrier learns to live on the streets

A nyone who has ever lived with a halfway decent dog will agree that they are endlessly hilarious creatures. Dogs are funny in a multitude of ways, probably the least of which is their connoisseur’s interest in each other’s rear ends, the indiscriminate humping and their erratic toilet habits. But according to this relentlessly basic comedy, this represents pretty much the full scope of canine humour. The tale of Reggie (Will Ferrell), an adorable scruff of a terrier who finds a mismatched band of four-legged friends and gradually comes to terms with his abandonment, Strays is a film that leans heavily on gross-out gags and a pre-adolescent fascination with pee and poop.

Tonally it’s in the same dog park as the complacently crass Sausage Party or the abrasive plush-toy profanity of Ted . And like these two pictures, it’s likely to appeal predominantly to the stoner end of the audience spectrum – not least because of an extended sequence in which Reggie and his buddies – a foul-mouthed Boston terrier, a collie bitch and a great Dane with anxiety issues – chow down on magic mushrooms and get messy. To sum up a review with a “dog’s dinner” line would be unconscionably lazy in normal circumstances, but since these pups routinely snack on vomit and faeces, it seems rather apt in this case.

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Strays Review

Filthy talking canines bring some laughs to the dog days.

There's one great throwaway gag in the proudly crass dog-days-of-summer comedy Strays. It involves what the film identifies as a "narrator dog" – that is, an adoringly, adorably staring pooch who reflects, through voiceover, on the love life of his owner. Connoisseurs of the Hallmark-friendly genre of dog movie will recognize this as a goof on the time Kevin Costner supplied the inner monologue of a wistful Golden Retriever. But you don't need to know A Dog's Purpose from A Dog's Journey to appreciate how Strays treats all these canine-related tearjerkers like a fire hydrant. And the movie's best joke, whose dark punchline shouldn't be spoiled here, speaks to a universal truth about man's best friend: No matter how awful you are, your dog will still love you.

As far as owners go, Doug (Will Forte) is about as awful as they come: a sadistic stoner asshole who constantly insults, berates, and neglects his trusty Border Terrier, Reggie. Not that Reggie minds. The little guy, who bears a passing resemblance to famous movie dog Benji, is a model of unwavering loyalty. Voiced by one-time Dissing Your Dog spokesman Will Ferrell at his most cheerfully clueless and milquetoast, Reggie is something of a narrator dog himself, gushing about how great his human is over the opening montage – as Forte’s scumbag repeatedly demonstrates otherwise.

Strays Gallery

After several attempts to abandon Reggie – who keeps coming back, ball in mouth, convinced he's winning a game – Doug finally succeeds, dropping his unwanted pet in an unfamiliar city a three-hour drive away. Here, Reggie meets foul-mouthed, streetwise, and ownerless Boston Terrier Bug (Jamie Foxx), who shows him the ropes of stray life, eating scraps and mounting whatever you like. He also befriends Hunter (Randall Park), a gentle Great Dane who works as a emotional support animal after flunking out of doggie police academy, and Maggie (Isla Fisher), a powerfully nosed Australian Shepherd whose preteen owner has redirected her affections towards a toy-breed puppy.

Strays certainly commits to its bit. The movie is a ribald, R-rated spoof of family-friendly talking-dog flicks – including Homeward Bound, which it vaguely lampoons once Reggie convinces his new pack to join him on the long voyage back to Doug, ostensibly to enact castrating revenge. (If a cute mutt with the voice of Ron Burgundy promising to "bite his dick off" sounds like the height of hilarity, rest assured that the movie repeats it as, well, doggedly as a trainer determined to teach some new tricks.) Many of the grosser gags of this gross-out comedy hinge on how disgusting our furry friends can be; one trip to the pound begins with a red rocket and ends with a fecal slip-and-slide.

What's the best talking dog movie?

The bottomless supply of testicular humor comes courtesy of screenwriter Dan Perrault, who offered a more refined breed of dick joke – and a more clever parody – with his Netflix mockumentary American Vandal . Meanwhile, director Josh Greenbaum offers a naughtier nuttiness than the kind that made his Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar a pandemic sleeper. But random shenanigans like a wild mushroom trip and a brief cameo by A Dog's Purpose star Dennis Quaid, who plays himself, aren't as amusing as the offhand jokes poking fun at the absurdities of dog behavior, as when one of these four-legged cutups explains his disdain for the mail-delivering bane of his existence: "He smells like a thousand different houses, and I can't trust that."

At times, Strays plays as formulaically as the sappy movies it's mocking. Beneath the vulgarity, this is a modern Hollywood comedy all the way. That means plenty of life lessons served between the laughs. Will Reggie manage to cut the leash and get out of his abusive relationship with Doug? Will Hunter work up the nerve to profess his feelings for Maggie? Will Bug get over his own traumatic abandonment, conveyed through flashbacks that aim for Toy Story 2 pathos without the heart-string-pulling assistance of Sarah McLachlan? (Talk about a missed opportunity, failing to secure the voice behind " When She Loved Me " and those famously manipulative animal-cruelty commercials .) It's practically Pavlovian, the way studios have taught audiences to expect a self-help seminar at the center of even the raunchiest of yukfest.

In the end, Strays has its kibble and eats it, too. Like any classic parody, it mauls with affection: You can chuckle at a Marley & Me reference and still want to adopt the characters – especially given how Greenbaum, in his truest nod to the history of the genre, employs real trained dogs, albeit with the CGI mouths necessary to make it look like a terrier is cursing a blue streak. Through the licking and lipstick jokes, another ode to the special bond between pets and owners emerges. It warms the heart as vigorously as it humps the leg.

After years of warm-and-fuzzy movies about warm-and-furry friends, the talking-dog genre gets a raunchy R-rated parody, with Will Ferrell as an abandoned terrier plotting revenge on his dirtbag owner (Will Forte) with the help of some fellow canines voiced by Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, and Randall Park. The filmmakers definitely go for it in the gross-out gag department, with jokes about droppings and marking and red rockets. But beneath the vulgar laughs, this is a comedy nearly as formulaic and sentimental as the sappy tearjerkers it's lampooning. Its bark is worse than its bite.

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Strays is not to be mistaken for the several other films of that name, or for this year’s British Netflix drama The Strays . Not that you could easily confuse them — Josh Greenbaum’s comedy is presumably the only one about talking dogs. Written by TV mockumentary specialist Dan Perrault, Strays is a determinedly garbage-minded farce about a small terrier named Reggie (Will Ferrell) lost in the big city when his repellent owner (Will Forte) abandons him.

The mutt is inducted into the ways of street life by a resourceful, flamboyantly potty-mouthed Boston terrier named Bug, voiced by Jamie Foxx. Bug reminds the innocent Reggie what being a dog is really about — sniffing bottoms, humping sofas and getting to own any object simply by peeing on it.

Reggie’s quest to return home eventually becomes a revenge mission, with the pooches joined by an anxious Weimaraner (Randall Park) and an Australian shepherd (Isla Fisher) with preternatural powers of smell — ie she can sniff out things that other doggy movies would blush to mention.

Strays is relentlessly scatological, fixated on gross-out and quite plausibly insightful about the less appealing aspects of dog psychology. Perhaps two gags out of 10 win a treat, but when they do — as in a bizarre digression involving a labrador’s internal monologue — the audacity can be jaw-dropping.

Ferrell made his mark in Elf being bright eyed and bushy-tailed, and here he voices a hero who is literally that. The first few minutes offer a superb set-up, in Reggie’s sweetly clueless voiceover about his supposedly perfect life — a vignette of a canine Candide. The joke is initially less interesting when human voices are matched to dogs, their mouths digitally tweaked to seamless effect. But once Strays warms up, the device can work brilliantly.

The dog playing twitchy Bug is very drolly synched to Foxx’s manic spiel, and while Reggie is a facially inexpressive furball, it’s Ferrell’s deadpan naivety that brings him to life. NB: Strays is very much not for children. Lovers of the cuter breed of pup pictures may feel as if they’ve been forcibly administered a shot of rabies.

In cinemas from August 18

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‘Strays’ Review: Crude Dog Comedy Is a Clever Laugh Riot Made for Pet Lovers

The jokes may be juvenile in the new film from the director of “Barb and Star,” but they certainly work

It’s been said, probably, that every movie would be even better with wiener jokes. I don’t think this was said by very mature individuals, nor do I think they were sober when they said it, but I’m pretty sure it’s been said at least once or twice. Probably by college students binge-watching “South Park” and huffing Cheeto dust.

In any case, those amateur philosophers are probably the target audience for “Strays,” a talking animal movie in the illustrious vein of “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” and the Owen Wilson version of “Marmaduke.” But although the majority of films where live-action animals talk with the assistance of flappy-mouthed CGI are made for children — who theoretically are enchanted by such things — “Strays” is full of profanity, jokes about sex and violence, and pervasive themes about abusive relationships.

And while it’s easy to imagine a cranky old critic waving his cane around, complaining about subverting all these family-friendly archetypes, you’ll have to go somewhere else for that. “Strays” is trying to be offensive, and at some point it’ll probably hit your gag reflex (your mileage might vary on when), but it’s also very funny and, in its odd and exceptionally crude way, kinda sweet.

“Strays” stars Will Ferrell as the voice of Reggie, an adorable Border Terrier who absolutely loves his human owner, Doug (Will Forte), who absolutely hates Reggie’s guts. Reggie’s playful shenanigans cost Doug his girlfriend and his favorite bong, and always cuts into his (nearly constant) masturbation schedule.

So Doug drives Reggie out into the country, throws his favorite ball into the woods, and drives away as fast as he can. Then Reggie finds his way back home, “Homeward Bound”-style, and Doug has to run the routine all over again. Because he really hates that dog and that dog really loves him.

When Doug finally drives Reggie three hours outside of town and drops him in the middle of the big city, it seems like the game is over. Reggie is now officially a stray. Fortunately, he’s got an experienced mentor, Bug (voiced by Jamie Foxx), who shows him the ropes. Anything you pee on is yours, for example.

After having the best night of his life with Bug and their friends Hunter (voiced by Randall Park), a former police dog with a cone over his head, and Maggie (voiced by Isla Fisher), whose influencer owner prefers her new, tiny, camera-friendly puppy, Reggie realizes for the first time that Doug never loved him. And that makes Reggie mad. So mad that he decides he’s going find his way back home and bite Doug’s penis off.

This might seem like a bad idea, but only if you’ve never met Doug. “Strays” does an admirable job of making Doug the kind of guy who, if you found out a dog bit his dick off, would make you think “Good dog.” If Doug had any redeeming qualities whatsoever, the plot wouldn’t work. So Will Forte has carte blanche to be the most unlikable character we’ve seen in movies in a long, long time.

Meanwhile, the dogs themselves are adorable, and not just because they’re fluffy. Reggie’s naiveté is balanced by his bravery and loyalty. Pug’s tough exterior masks a wounded soul, and he really cares about Reggie as a friend. And then there’s Hunter and Maggie, who are clearly in love with each other but unable to seal the deal in what dogs call “Regular Style.”

“Strays” was directed by Josh Greenbaum, an award-winning documentarian whose narrative feature debut, “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” is one of the funniest of movies of the decade. Like “Barb and Star,” his latest film looks at first glance like a one-joke wonder, but it always finds new ways to make you laugh. The difference is the jokes in “Strays” have a lot more poop and pee in them. I repeat: A lot more poop and pee.

That might have been enough to make “Strays” a serviceable comedy, but the script by Dan Perrault (“American Vandal”) has some interesting ideas in it. The story is a clever subversion of the “Benji” formula, where instead of a stray dog finding a human family, a stray dog realizes he doesn’t need one. There are also wonderfully funny jokes lampooning other films in the talking animal genre. (The gag about “Narrator Dogs,” who constantly describe what their owners are doing, has a fantastic pay-off.)

As for the film’s hit-you-over-the-head theme about toxic relationships, well, nobody expected “Strays” to be subtle. And while it may be trying, with mixed-bag success, to connect with humans in the audience familiar with similar struggles, it’s genuinely successful at making you remember to go home and give some extra cuddles to your own pets, to whom you are their entire world, and who don’t understand that you’re trying to write a movie review right now and you’ll give them cuddles in a minute, OK? Is that OK? You need cuddles right now, don’t you? Alright, gimme a second…

Where was I? Oh yeah, “Strays.” Like I said before, the film is actively trying to gross you out and it’s very likely to do so. There’s a sequence in the middle where the dogs eat magic mushrooms that goes to a very dark place, and to be perfectly frank, I don’t think that was very funny. The film won me back quickly, but sheesh, read the room next time.

Yet for the most part, “Strays” does what it needs to do. It makes you laugh at dogs doing naughty things, and it makes you remember your pets need cuddles. OK guys, the review is over now. Let’s get you some treats!

“Strays” opens exclusively in theaters on Aug. 18.

Strays Review: A Live-Action Dog Comedy That’s More Impressive Than Funny

Prepare for lots of jokes about humping..

Dogs are silly, funny animals. This is something that people have known for thousands and thousands of years, but it’s a fact that’s particularly been made apparent in the internet age, with social media sites featuring an endless stream of videos from pet owners who catch their canine companions acting weird. They display unique personalities, but there are also universal bizarre behaviors that have been well documented and mocked – from their need to walk in tight circles before lying down, to scooting their butt on the floor, to humping just about anything.

Release Date: August 18, 2023 Directed By: Josh Greenbaum Written By: Dan Perrault Starring: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, and Will Forte Rating: R for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use Runtime: 93 minutes

The pervasiveness of this kind of internet content is a big hindrance to Strays , the new film from director Josh Greenbaum. The movie has no shortage of ambition, as it executes its feature-length story and action with four real dogs as its protagonists, but it ends up being more impressive than funny. It has its comedic bright spots, including a satisfying finale, but it relies far too heavily on pointing at commonly recognized idiosyncrasies and aims consistently at low-hanging fruit. Far too much of it is comparable to a live-action remake of The Secret Life Of Pets (albeit with more obscene language and behavior).

Written by Dan Perrault, Strays tells the tale of Reggie ( Will Ferrell ), a naïve, optimistic Border Terrier trapped unknowingly trapped in an abusive relationship. His owner is Doug ( Will Forte ), a shiftless asshole who adopted Reggie when he was in a relationship and blames the dog for his breakup. Doug regularly tries to get rid of his pet by driving him off to a far location, tossing a tennis ball, and leaving, but Reggie always just gets the ball and comes back to his home in the suburbs.

Frustrated by the pup’s regular returns, Doug eventually decides to drive miles away to the nearest city and drop Reggie off in a dark alley – which is where he ends up meeting a Boston Terrier named Bug ( Jamie Foxx ) who changes his life. He not only comes to understand that his owner is a horrible person but also the joys of being a stray. He learns to appreciate his new freedom, but he also decides that his relationship with his owner is not quite over. With help from Bug as well as a Great Dane named Hunter ( Randall Park ) and an Australian Shepherd named Maggie ( Isla Fisher ), Reggie makes it his mission to return back to Doug and bite his penis off.

The comedy in Strays is too dependent on references to  humorous dog behaviors and doesn't have enough original material.

As far as revenge plots go, Strays is packed with a winner, and it’s at its best when it is heavily leaning into its R-rating – but there is a shortage of material in that department and it doesn’t have much in the way for fresh observational humor. The introduction of Bug, as an example, sees the tiny hound face off with a Rottweiler and a Dobermann, and he ends up scaring the bigger dogs off by acting like a psychopath. Anyone who has ever seen a canine interaction like this before in real life can smile in recognition, but it’s not made uproariously funny no matter how crass Jamie Foxx gets in his voice over.

Most of the movie operates with this kind of humor, and it’s diverting, but not hilarious. It eventually feels like there was a checklist involved in the construction of the script, with various bits and references peppered into the characters’ journey from the city back to Doug’s house. Humping things? Check. Eating vomit? Check. Hating the mailman? Check. To the film’s credit, it doesn’t overplay the cliché dogs vs. cats dynamic, but it is still used as the source of a joke (as though the filmmakers just couldn’t help themselves).

The bright spots come when the film moves away from that kind of material, like with the penis biting plot and a bit involving what Bug describes as a “Narrator Dog,” but they get buried in all of the tropes. The talented cast does what it can to add to the comedy, and they do successfully imbue their characters with specific personalities, but it only gets the movie so far.

Strays is an impressive feat of filmmaking and is able to do surprising and awesome things with the canine stars.

It’s possible that some of the better comedic bits conceptualized behind the scenes ended up not being feasible without an over-reliance on visual effects, but if Strays does one thing particularly well, it’s showcasing the shocking capabilities of canine performers. Along with some skillful cinematography and editing, it’s remarkable just how natural it looks when two or more of the dogs are in a scene having a conversation. The voice -over performances never feel non-diegetic, as the animal actors are always engaged in any given scene, and their actions appear realistic instead of either rehearsed or incidental.

In its own way, Strays affirms the old Hollywood adage about working with animals (and children). In this case, it’s not an actor who gets outshined by a furry co-star, but the film’s comedy sensibilities in general. It’s 93 minutes of movie magic, but far from the funniest feature of 2023.

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.

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Screen Rant

Strays review: will ferrell & jamie foxx are a great duo in awkward comedy.

Though it makes some attempts at finding genuine heart (and does at times succeed), Strays' contrasting tones makes for an awkward watch.

• "Strays" takes a raunchy and unconventional approach to dog movies, with drugs, crude jokes, and lots of poop, making it not for everyone.
• The film pokes fun at dog movie tropes, but often resorts to simple and lowbrow humor, sacrificing the sweetness and charm of the dogs.
• Despite its profane comedy, "Strays" does touch on emotional elements and offers a satisfying ending, though some jokes miss the mark.

Editor's note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn't exist.

It's probably safe to say that, when you think of dog movies, you think of the inspiring, heart-warming flicks where a dog bonds with their human companions and traverses the ups and downs of life alongside them, as seen with A Dog's Purpose or Marley & Me . Strays , the raunchy new movie from director Josh Greenbaum, takes the exact opposite track. Pushing the R rating to the extreme, Strays takes its eponymous pups on their own adventure, albeit one with drugs, many dick jokes, and lots and lots of poop. This is not a movie that will appeal to everyone, and occasionally seems driven more by shock value than anything else. Though it makes some attempts at finding genuine heart (and does at times succeed), Strays ' contrasting tones makes for an awkward, intermittently funny watch.

Sweet terrier Reggie (Will Ferrell) thinks he has the perfect life with owner Doug (Will Forte), who loves to play catch with him over and over again. What he doesn't realize is that Doug, a lazy, repulsive person, loathes him with every fiber of his being, and that the games of catch are meant to send him away. After Doug leaves Reggie hours away in an unfamiliar city, the tiny pup meets Bug (Jamie Foxx), a street-wise stray who quickly takes Reggie under his wing and teaches him the ways of being alone as a dog. As Reggie comes to grips with the fact that Doug wasn't a very good owner, he sets a new goal: Return home and exact revenge. With the help of fellow dogs Hunter (Randall Park), Maggie (Isla Fisher), and Bug, Reggie sets out on his biggest journey yet.

Strays is at its best when it is poking fun at the well-known tropes of dog movies, as seen during a quick interaction with a dog voiced by A Dog's Purpose narrator Josh Gad. Unfortunately, the movie is more interested in going for the simplest forms of humor, putting the dogs in situations where they accidentally get high, hump anything they can, and pee on each other. In the screening I attended, this prompted bouts of uncomfortable laughter, particularly in the moment where Reggie and his friends eat a bunch of mushrooms and get into some real, horrifying trouble. Greenbaum is eager to push the envelope of what adorable dogs can do, though they lose some of their sweetness after the millionth comment about Hunter's sizable anatomy.

At the same time, Strays isn't averse to a more emotional tone, whether that be through revealing the truth about Bug's backstory or addressing Reggie's abusive relationship with Doug. These serious elements don't always mesh well with the profane comedy, but they do serve to deepen the narrative and show Strays has more to offer than another joke about how dogs have sex. It should also be said that the ending is very satisfying, both in terms of Doug's fate and where each dog winds up. There's some predictability here, but that's okay. Having a hunch about where things will end doesn't diminish the overall impact.

Strays ' voice cast also proves to be a highlight. Ferrell nails Reggie's naivete and curiosity, while Foxx deftly shows there's more to Bug than the bravado he constantly puts on. Park and Fisher are both excellent additions to the cast, though their characters are often whittled down to a handful of facts, such as Hunter's large genitals and Maggie's recent abandonment by her owner. Reggie and Bug are the more developed characters by far, but Strays doesn't seem too concerned with that either. The punchlines are the most important part, and not all of them land.

Strays has some smarts to offer, and it's hard not to find some enjoyment in watching dogs run around onscreen. At the same time, its determination to always seek out the raunchiest, most unsettling situations for its characters brushes up awkwardly with its more heartfelt moments. There is almost certainly an audience for Strays , found within those who like lots of jokes about human excrement and sexual activities. For those who don't like that, though, there isn't enough of anything else to entice them.

Strays is now playing in theaters. It is 93 minutes long and rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use.

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10 Funniest Scenes From Strays, Ranked

• Strays is a gut-busting, R-rated dog movie spoofing dog movie tropes.
• The dogs share funny, insightful moments as they seek revenge and bond.
• The film's slapstick humor, smart comedy, and star-studded cast deliver laugh-out-loud moments.

The atypical dog movie Strays is a gut-buster, with so many funny scenes from the beginning to the end. Starring Will Ferrell as a naive, recently abandoned dog called Reggie and Jamie Foxx as the street-wise long-time stray Bug, the movie's comedy comprises a lot of slapstick but also some moments of cleverer humor. It also makes good use of its comedy-wise cast, including many well-known actors in addition to Ferrell and Fox.

Strays stands out as an R-rated dog movie and derives some of its best jokes from making nods to the prevailing tropes of dog movies. When Reggie decides he wants revenge on his abusive owner (Will Forte) who abandoned him, Bug accompanies him on a comedy-driven journey, accompanied by worldly Maggie (Isla Fisher) and timid Hunter (Randall Park). Their strange journey leads up to and even more outrageous conclusion in Strays' ending .

Strays is available to stream via Amazon Prime.

Reggie, Bug, Maggie, & Hunter's Traveling Montage

As reggie and co. make their way towards revenge, they share some hilarious dog thoughts..

After Reggie decides to exact revenge on Doug , he and his new friends set out on a "cross-country" (only a few hours away by car) road trip. There are some more significant incidents along the way, but an underappreciated scene is just a montage of the dogs trekking through the woods and mountains while Tai Verdes' "A-O-K" plays. Along the way, they share some chuckle-worthy thoughts about the facts of life and reveal their inability to appreciate a knock-knock joke because they think there is someone at the door. It’s a fun scene that shows the dogs’ bond growing stronger.

Strays Has A Surprisingly Touching Message About Abusive Relationships

All the dogs at the pound pooping, reggie delivers a rousing speech and leads the other dogs to freedom..

After they are caught and taken to the pound, Reggie realizes that they can escape if one of the employees has to come into the kennel to pick up dog poop, and gives an "inspirational" speech convincing the other dogs to help them and go live their lives. The human comes in to find all the dogs sitting by their own pile and ends up trampled and covered in poop. It's low-brow humor for sure, but still entertaining. The scene also reveals something about the effect Reggie's new friends have had on him.

Bug Explains Being A Stray To Reggie

Bug lists the best things about being a stray dog..

On the other hand, a lot of jokes in Strays come from the meditation on what the world looks like from the perspective of a dog. When Bug first finds Reggie, he explains that the best things about being on his own include claiming things by peeing on them and being able to hump anything. This also leads into the dog park scene, where Bug first posits his theory that humans collect dog poop to make chocolate. The situational comedy of how dogs think is gross at points but admittedly clever.

Bug, Maggie, & Hunter Rescue Reggie From The Fireworks

After fleeing the fireworks, the dogs turn back to rescue their new friend..

Another thing that is objectively terrifying from a dog's perspective is a fireworks display. While they are at a fairground looking for food, fireworks go off, causing the dogs to flee in terror. They have almost all escaped when Reggie gets stuck to a fence and the others turn back to "save" him. The comedic dramatic irony is, of course, that the audience understands what fireworks are and is laughing at the dogs' hyperbolic reaction to something that doesn't threaten them. Some teenagers showing up to set off a rocket, which sputters out, is also a funny moment.

Covering Up The Bunny Crime Scene

Reggie, bug, maggie, and hunter hide their crime..

The dogs are wandering in the woods and are hungry enough that they are forced to eat mushrooms and experience a trip as a result. They experience some entertaining hallucinations, including Bug talking to Dolores on the couch (Sofía Vergara) and Hunter seeing a cartoon version of Maggie. They also think they have found some stuffed animals and have a good time tearing them up — only to realize later that they have actually massacred a group of bunnies. The dogs then panic, bury the bunnies' remains, and spend the rest of the movie pretending to know nothing.

Scraps Night

Reggie, bug, maggie, and hunter enjoy a night on the town..

The dogs take Reggie out for scraps night, where they steal dropped food from humans, run through the sprinklers, and confront the invisible fence. The sequence includes the cameo of Chester (Jamie Demetriou) the dog who is trapped by the invisible fence (actually prevented from leaving his lawn by a shock collar). The wild adventures serve as another way that Reggie is integrated into the group, especially when he jumps the fence himself, to everyone's amazement. Some recurring jokes are also established during the dogs' night out.

Does Strays Have A Post-Credits Scene?

Bug is picked up by a hawk, strays' best scene of slapstick comedy is when reggie saves bug..

Bug has just asserted that things can't get any worse when a hawk flies by and snares Bug in its claws. Reggie then takes a running start off a boulder and jumps into the air, latching onto Bug's leg. The scene's heightened comedy comes from the dogs continuously panicking, then narrowly avoiding a tree top, only to be hit by another one, and colliding with an impressive number of branches on the way down (as Hunter points out). The scene piles on one ridiculous incident after another, leaving the audience in fits of laughter.

The Narrator Dog And His Serial Killer Owner

Strays makes fun of dogs who narrate their owners' lives..

While they are at the fairground, Reggie and Bug come across Gus (Josh Gad), who is narrating what is seemingly a meet-cute between his owner and a pretty woman playing own of the fair games. It makes for own of Strays' smartest jokes because Bug calls out the trope of dogs narrating and moves Reggie along. However, the scene has another unexpected and morbidly funny twist: After Bug and Reggie leave, Gus reveals through his narration that his owner is actually a serial killer.

Dennis Quaid Sees Reggie And Bug

Dennis quaid plays himself as a birdwatcher who witnesses a bizarre event..

While it takes place during the hawk sequence, Dennis Quaid's cameo in Strays is a different beat and is funny for a multitude of reasons. The scene apparently makes fun of bird watchers, because after seeing a bird, Quaid goes to check it off on his list that just repeatedly reads "bird." A moment later, he sees the hawk flying by carrying both Bug and Reggie, and says: "That is the craziest thing I have ever seen. And I'm Dennis Quaid and Dennis Quaid has seen some s**t." The meta humor is one of Strays' most hysterical moments.

10 Best Dog Movies On Netflix

Bug's first scene, big's introduction is the first true indicator that strays is a comedy..

Up until Bug first appears, Strays comes across as a sad movie where an adorable dog does everything for his owner, while the audience knows that Doug is awful to him. Bug comes on the scene pulling a "crazy little dog" act to scare off some bigger dogs who are threatening Reggie. Bug's bold claims of having rabies with a "37-inch vertical" thrown in is amazing random humor that does a great job of setting up Bug's wacky character. Strays is not a typical dog movie, but it has plenty of hilarious moments like this.

Strays is a live-action comedy film directed by Josh Greenbaum and written by Josh Greenbaum. Will Ferril stars as a lovable Border Terrier known as Reggie, who lives with a terrible owner named Doug (will Forte) who keeps trying to abandon him. When he's dropped off in the middle of the city, he discovers other strays including a Boston Terrier named Bug (Jamie Foxx) who lets him know what's really happened to him. After coming to his senses, Reggie decides he wants to head back to Doug for revenge - by "biting off his favorite appendage." Reggie, Bug, and two other strays embark on a quest for revenge against the neglectful human.

Release Date June 9, 2023

Director Josh Greenbaum

Cast Josh Gad, Jamie Demetriou, Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Will Forte, Sofia Vergara, Rob Riggle, Randall Park, Isla Fisher, Brett Gelman

Genres Comedy

Writers Dan Perrault

Website https://www.strays.movie/

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‘arthur the king’ review: mark wahlberg lets the dog steal the spotlight in cheesy but charming canine comedy.

Wahlberg plays an adventure racer who forms a powerful bond with a stray dog in Simon Cellan Jones' film based on a true story.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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He is, perfect, however, for playing the sort of obsessed, win-at-all-costs character who clearly spends much more time at the gym than your typical husband and father. His Americanized character, Michael, is shown in the opening scenes of the movie competing in a previous competition in which he nearly kills his four teammates with his reckless decisions, and still winds up losing the race.

Interspersed with the scenes detailing Michael’s preparations are ones introducing us to Arthur, an injured, scruffy street dog who’s clearly seen hard times but is resourceful enough to hitch a ride on a passing truck when being chased by two larger canines.

Michael makes Arthur’s acquaintance during the team’s first rest stop after their jungle trek, when he’s impressed by the dog’s unwillingness to beg despite being obviously hungry. Michael gives him a meatball anyway, not realizing that he’s sealing an irreparable bond between them.

Some 200 miles later, after his team nearly runs into catastrophe while making a shortcut that involves mountain climbing and ziplining with their bicycles attached (it’s a truly harrowing sequence), Michael is astonished to encounter the dog again, having no idea how he managed to follow them through the rough terrain. Dubbed “Arthur” because of his noble demeanor, the dog soon becomes an invaluable member of the team, keeping up with them every step of the way and even saving Leo’s life by preventing him from unwittingly walking off a steep cliff in the dark.

Obviously, being a dog lover goes a long way toward one’s enjoyment of Arthur the King . But even if you’re not, you won’t be able to resist this canine thespian who manages to convey a world of information merely through barks. And he doesn’t even need those. When Michael sits down to tell him that, sorry, he won’t be able to kayak with them, Arthur looks at him with the most doleful, poignantly sad eyes since Charlie Chaplin gazed at the formerly blind girl at the end of City Lights .

Is all of this manipulative and cheesy? Yes, and yes. But it ultimately proves irresistible, and will be especially so for younger audience members. Parents should be advised that taking their children will inevitably result in pleas for a dog of their own immediately following the film.

Wahlberg infuses his performance with genuine heart, making his character’s falling in love with his new canine companion fully believable. And Juliet Rylance is fine as Michael’s supportive wife, even if she’s forced to spend most of the movie staring at a computer and saying lines like “Michael, what have you done?” and “Way to go, Michael!”

But it’s Ukai who’s undeniably the real star of the film. Now if only Hollywood can put him in a canine buddy movie with Messi from Anatomy of a Fall .

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‘Arthur the King’ Review: Mark Wahlberg Meets a New Best Friend in the Dominican Republic in Blandly Reassuring Adventure

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Long gone are the days of Mark Wahlberg movies with an edge. The proudly Catholic family man, who once asked God for forgiveness for playing the scantly clad, dream-or-die porn star Dirk Diggler in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “ Boogie Nights ,” now makes films that either hover around religious agitprop (“Father Stu”), are blandly comforting studio comedies (“Me Time”), or action adventure spectacles with no soul (“ Uncharted ”). In short, he’s making movies meant to inspire rather than challenge audiences these days.

“Arthur the King” certainly won’t inspire legions of new Wahlberg fans, though here is a movie that props him up as a grade-A hero onscreen. Directed by Simon Cellan Jones, this feel-good globe-trotting odyssey shares thematic overlap with all three types of movies as Wahlberg takes on the real-life role of Swedish adventure racer Mikael Lindnord (here renamed Michael Light and recast as American) who, 10 years ago while racing across Ecuador bonded along the way with a scrappy, stray street mongrel whom he named Arthur. Their perilous journey, along with Michael’s teammates, forms the emotional center of this sturdily enjoyable if emotionally uninsightful heart-tugger that aims straight down the middle of the audience for a mildly reassuring experience mostly made with families in mind.

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Which means the film should bring at least a little box office joy as parents and their kids pack in for the adventure. “Arthur the King” isn’t without its unassuming pleasures, particularly around the sweetly mannered and quietly regal (in spite of his disheveled and flesh-worn appearance) dog that joins Michael and team on their 435-mile trek across the Dominican Republic in 10 days. One that involves running, climbing, and ziplining through the DR’s alternately lush and rugged terrain, battling the elements. Though that terrain is hardly a character in itself, as the locales become anonymous and the sad-faced local people are ignored when not a means to an end for said running, climbing, and paddling.

“Arthur the King” is the sort of movie you watch with a blank stare, occasionally checking your watch, only to end up hesitantly won over by the sentimental finale — fine, you got me, there might be a slight dab of moisture on the side of my eye. Oh, and heads up: You only need Google to confirm this, but no, the dog does not die onscreen. (Arthur did eventually die in 2020 when production on this film was actually supposed to start before numerous delays and studio passings of the baton, but “Arthur the King” is set in 2018 with events from Ecuador now dramatized in the Dominican Republic.)

There is a brush with death, though, and Mikael Lindnord’s 2016 memoir “Arthur – The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to a Find a Home” will tell you all about that. Meanwhile, in human terms, Michael (Wahlberg) lives with his wife and former racing partner Helen (Juliet Rylance) and daughter in Oahu and is no longer a bankable star (much unlike Wahlberg himself, clearly) who can earn sponsorship to fund rigorous enough training for the next round of the Adventure Racing World Series competition, which involves trekking, mountain biking, kayaking, and most of all survival on little sleep and fewer rations of food (here in the form of freeze-dried meatballs, unappetizing to the human palate perhaps but eventually irresistible to Arthur).

So Michael assembles a more hotshot cast — er, team — of elite athletes including Michael’s professional nemesis Leo (Simu Liu), whose cocksure swagger and social media following make him far more appealing to sponsors than his supposedly rusting-up competitor who’s never won a world championship before. Michael insists this 2018 trip around the DR will be his last, though, the psychology of a “one last trip around the sun” sort of heaving world-weariness toward the sun setting on one’s dreams hardly explored by Wahlberg or Michael Brandt’s serviceable screenplay.

There’s also Olivia (Nathalie Emmanuel), daughter of another climbing legend, who’s probably the closest Michael has to a friend on his team (the filmmakers don’t force the sort of sexual tension you’d expect in similar adventure movies between the two here, as this is a wholesome family film). But the characters are less human beings than people pushing themselves to the brink on a global racetrack. On the adventuresome side of things, other than the visible endurance test each of these actors underwent on location in the Dominican Republic, there’s nothing below the surface that explores the psychological effects of such tests.

In this sense, “Arthur the King” is two movies at once, as underneath the ticking clock of the film’s racing sequences is the pretty heartwarming bond between Arthur and Michael. It was enough to inspire not just the book by Lindnord, but two documentaries as well. And there’s that word “inspire” again. Simon Cellan Jones’s film — originally to be directed by “Everest” filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur, and what a much different peril story “Arthur the King” might have been — is meant to lift the spirits and fill the cockles of one’s heart, particularly with ardor for the rangy mutt of its title namesake. On those terms, it succeeds, and like Arthur himself, the results are sweet and dignified. Watch it on a flight.

“Arthur the King” opens in theaters from Lionsgate on Friday, March 15.

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• Cast & crew
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Arthur the King

An adventure racer adopts a stray dog named Arthur to join him in an epic endurance race. An adventure racer adopts a stray dog named Arthur to join him in an epic endurance race. An adventure racer adopts a stray dog named Arthur to join him in an epic endurance race.

• Simon Cellan Jones
• Michael Brandt
• Mikael Lindnord
• Nathalie Emmanuel
• Mark Wahlberg
• 8 User reviews
• 13 Critic reviews

• Helena Lindnord

• Charlie Light

• Swedish CFO

• Decker Swanson

• Hotel Clerk

• Photographer

• Dominican Vet

• Race official TA 10
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Swedish podcast "Tack För Kaffet" tried to interview Arthur in Gothenburg Book Fair 2016.

User reviews 8

• Mar 8, 2024
• How long will Arthur the King be? Powered by Alexa
• March 15, 2024 (United States)
• United States
• Lionsgate Films
• Tucker Tooley Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 30 minutes

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