Keith L. Williams, Jacob Tremblay and Sam Richardson (r) star in Good Boys |
Bean Bag Boys for Life
Rotten Tomatoes Plot: After being invited to his first kissing party, 12-year-old Max (Room's Jacob Tremblay) is panicking because he doesn't know how to kiss. Eager for some pointers, Max and his best friends Thor (Brady Noon, HBO's Boardwalk Empire) and Lucas (Keith L. Williams, Fox's The Last Man On Earth) decide to use Max's dad's drone - which Max is forbidden to touch - to spy (they think) on a teenage couple making out next door. But when things go ridiculously wrong, the drone is destroyed. Desperate to replace it before Max's dad (Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth) gets home, the boys skip school and set off on an odyssey of epically bad decisions involving some accidentally stolen drugs, frat-house paintball, and running from both the cops and terrifying teenage girls (Life of the Party's Molly Gordon and Ocean's Eight's Midori Francis.) Directed by Gene Stupnitsky.
Starring: Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, Brady Noon, Molly Gordon, Lil Rel Howery, and Will Forte
What's Good: Stupnitsky's directorial debut is a delightful mix of cute and raunchy, that never oversteps it bounds (despite teetering on the edge) while soliciting laughs galore. Its adorable trio of tweens is close-to-perfect, trading hilarious one-liners, "Is that what happens when you get a stepmom?" while struggling with childproof bottles and learning how to kiss. Best of all, it's done with good intentions, which isn't easy to do in a coming-of-age story, especially one that features a myriad of sex toys (amongst other naughty scenarios.)
What's Not: Lack of star power.
Budget: $20 million
Runtime: 90 minutes
Target Audience: Just about everyone (prudes, stay clear.) Fans of Superbad.
Bottom Line: It's short, sweet and jam-packed with (light-hearted) vulgarity. What more could you ask for? How about a sequel, and soon (fingers crossed.)
Grade: A-