‘Strays’: Review

Dir: Josh Greenbaum. US. 2023. 93mins

There’s plenty of doggone bad behaviour in Strays, a proudly vulgar, intermittently funny live-action comedy about some wayward canines on an epic adventure. In essence, director Josh Greenbaum has crafted the anti-Babe, populating his film with cute mutts who are horny and profane, exhibiting the basest qualities of humans while otherwise acting like man’s best friend. Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx are clearly enjoying themselves voicing their very different characters — Ferrell naive and energetic, Foxx cynical and streetwise — but apart from a few inspired moments, the outrageousness soon drags.

Strays mocks wholesome Incredible Journey-style adventures in which a collection of animals go on a heartwarming quest. 

Universal opens Strays in the UK and US on August 18, and the studio has strenuously advertised that it is not suitable for children. Much like 2016’s raunchy animation Sausage Party (which also opened in August and grossed $141 million worldwide), Strays seeks to be subversive by disguising adult humour in seemingly kid-friendly fare, targeting grownup audiences in the mood for broad, inappropriate gags. Ferrell and Foxx bring box-office clout, and producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have cornered the market on hip, irreverent projects such as Cocaine Bear. 

Voiced by Ferrell, Reggie is a Border Terrier who has been abandoned by his cruel owner Doug (Will Forte, in a live-action role). Refusing to believe that Doug has rejected him, Reggie meets a Boston Terrier named Bug (Foxx), a fellow stray who explainshow to survive in the big city. Joined by Australian Shepherd Maggie (Isla Fisher) and Great Dane Hunter (Randall Park) — who have feelings for one another but have never acted upon them — Reggie and Bug set out to find Reggie’s home so he can confront Doug.

Greenbaum (Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar) uses Reggie’s sweet, openhearted nature as our guide into this world, quickly establishing the ground rules of how Strays will operate. Around each other, animals speak in English, their mouths moving — the characters are real dogs using seamless effects, with their trainers erased digitally from the frame — but when they try talking to humans, only barking is heard. Reggie insists on seeing the best in everyone, but Bug quickly disabuses him of that philosophy, explaining that Doug was actually a bad owner and that people are, in general, awful. The impressionable Reggie starts taking what Bug says to heart, and begins adopting his new friend’s foul-mouthed manner.

Quite consciously, Strays mocks wholesome Incredible Journey-style adventures in which a collection of animals go on a heartwarming quest. By comparison, in Dan Perrault’s script our canine heroes hump whatever they can find, eat mushrooms that send them on a psychedelic trip, and do battle with predators — all the while comparing their genitals and discussing their harebrained theories. (Bug is convinced humans make chocolate from dogs’ poop.) Much of the film’s humour is meant to come from the juxtaposition of seeing lovable pooches say and do such nasty things, and the conceit can be delightfully transgressive. Foxx in particular savours every swear word, executing surgical strikes with his F-bombs, but diminishing returns quickly set in once it becomes apparent that the naughty talk doesn’t have much depth or wit to it.

The picture is funniest when it is at its most specific, finding humour in recognisable dog habits or satirising the conventions of feel-good animal films. (In the latter category, Strays gets big laughs from a perfectly executed part involving the tendency of a certain kind of cinematic canine that narrates the human main character’s story.) When Greenbaum takes us inside the mindset of dogs — like, for instance, how fireworks terrify them — the film can be quite clever. Too often, though, Strays’ sex-and-drugs jokes feel too easily transplanted from other adult-themed comedies – except, this time, it’s canines acting out.

Ferrell utilises some of the same manchild enthusiasm he conveyed in films like Elf, which makes Reggie’s eventual swearing and coarse behaviour surprising in contrast. (The character’s specific plan to get revenge on Doug can’t be printed here, but Ferrell manages to make the memorable phrase both off-colour and oddly endearing.) Park and Fisher have a couple of nice moments as friends who might be more than that if Hunter had the nerve to tell Maggie exactly how he feels about her. But just as Strays’ strained shock value loses its potency, the film’s predictable later shift to sentimental earnestness comes across as contrived. These dogs are never less than adorable, but one wishes there was something more interesting coming out of their mouths.