Posted in: Kaitlyn Booth, Movies, Universal | Tagged: Review, strays, universal

Strays Review: No Amount Of Raunchy Revenge Makes Animal Neglect Funny

Strays is trying to be an R-rated Homeward Bound, but no amount of swear words can make animal neglect or abuse funny. It's 93 minutes about why we don't deserve dogs and why humans suck.

Strays is trying to be an R-rated Homeward Bound, but no amount of swear words or dick jokes can make animal neglect or abuse funny. It's 93 minutes about why we don't deserve dogs and why humans suck.

Director: Josh Greenbaum
Summary: An abandoned dog teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner.

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey was released in 1993 and was about two dogs and a cat that were separated from their family and had to journey across long distances to return to their owners. At the end of the movie, it seems like the older golden, Shadow, didn't make it, and it is, to put it mildly, soul-destroying. It's a film that makes everyone ugly sob. The idea behind Strays seems to be an R-rated Homeward Bound while forgetting that the movie is soul-destroying. That is a good idea for a short. However, there isn't enough material there for a feature film, and there is no escaping that we are watching an abused animal trying to get back to its abuser regardless of what the intentions of returning are.

Movies about dogs are often sad because dogs are the best, and we don't deserve them. Strays doesn't stray away [I'm sorry] from the fact that dogs tend to love unconditionally, and we see that with the way Reggie [voiced by Will Ferrell] seems to think that everything his owner Doug [Will Forte] does is good. At the end of the day, all he wants is for someone to call him a good boy because Doug only ever calls him a bad dog. Even mere moments into the film, when you're watching Reggie and Doug's interactions, there is no shying away from how rough this person is with the dog. We are supposed to hate Doug as a character, but the movie tries to compensate for the blatant abuse and neglect Reggie faced with a bunch of swearing and dick jokes. And maybe this makes me a member of the bummer brigade, but there isn't an amount of dick jokes or swearing that makes any of this funny.

Comedies are one of the more subjective genres out there because what one person believes is funny, another person won't, and maybe there are plenty of people who will look at Strays and won't be bothered by the undercurrent of an abused animal trying to get back to its abuser because it believes that the abuse it some fucked up form of love. Maybe people will think the "regular style" sex jokes will make up for it or the excellent vocal performances that all of the cast are putting in. There is some very niche humor in there and some genuinely funny moments, but this was made for a short, not a full film, because the reality of what these animals have gone through and will go through becomes harder to ignore the longer the film goes on.

Strays certainly might be a comedy for some people, but for this reviewer, it was just a reminder that we don't deserve dogs and that humanity, as a whole, is terrible. No one would laugh about an abused spouse returning to their abuser thinking that the abuse was love, but for some reason, e are supposed to accept it when they are animals. The tale of revenge rings hollow, no matter how much they try to make the movie feel like a tale of revenge, because all the revenge in the world and Reggie biting Doug's dick off won't undo all that abuse and neglect. And that just isn't funny.

Strays

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Review by Kaitlyn Booth

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2/10

Strays tale of revenge rings hollow, no matter how much they try to make the movie feel like a tale of revenge, because all the revenge in the world and Reggie biting Doug's dick off won't undo all that abuse and neglect. And that just isn't funny. 

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