Movie Reaction: Good Boys

Formula: Superbad Jr.

I was always going to like Good Boys. I try not to go into a movie with my opinion already formed, but there was no avoiding it. I have a weakness for children swearing and this movie was made with Superbad, my second favorite movie of all time, as the syllabus. So, to an extent, my thoughts on this movie are going to be useless for anyone who doesn't already want to see it.

Good Boys is the exactly movie I expected. It's about three friends (Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, and Brady Noon) getting into trouble on their way to a party. In particular, they have to replace Tremblay's father's drone while running from two teen girls (Molly Gordon, Midori Francis) who they accidentally stole drugs from. This is an over-the-top comedy. It's filled with sixth graders who swear like sailors, physical humor, and sex jokes going right over their heads.

Look, you know right away with that description if this is the kind of movie you'd even let yourself like. What I'm here to confirm is that this is probably the best version of a movie with the description I gave.

First of all, it is funny. The three leads are really good. This shouldn't be a surprise, as all of them have experience working on adult projects (Room, The Last Man on Earth, Boardwalk Empire) where they could hold their own against adult performers. I don't know if they fully understand all the jokes they're making in this, but they sell them like they do. Or really, they sell it like their characters don't get the jokes but the actors do. Children swearing is always funny to me. The movie smartly doesn't make them good at swearing. All the kids say the words but they clearly don't know what they mean. They're play-acting as adults the way all kids do. The sex humor is mostly in the juxtaposition of children around these things. It doesn't feel exploitative. I was never uncomfortable with the situations, because the joke is that they are too innocent to understand them. What really made me fine with it is that the way the three boys deliver the jokes made it feel like they were in on the joke. It's not like laughing after you get a toddler to say "shit". It's laughing at young kids who look too young to be as aware of what they're saying as they are.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg produced this. They have nothing to do with the writing or directing (This is Gene Stupinitsky and Lee Eisenberg's movie). It's clear why they wanted to be involved though. It obviously has the same ribald humor that their comedies have. Just as important though, it tackles the same questions of friendship that most of their movies have (Superbad, Pineapple Express, This Is the End, The Interview). It's about what happens when friends grow up and grow apart. We all roll our eyes at the "comedy man-child" as a trope, but their movies have a genuine interest in what growing up entails. It's funny to see adults act like children. It's funny to see children act like adults. That's this movie in a nutshell. Beneath the easy sex jokes are more thoughtful jokes about mens' fragile egos, the awkwardness of growing up, and not knowing where you belong. I don't want to pretend that this is some profound movie. It's not. However, it is a much more aware and thoughtful movie than it needs to be.

A lot of why the movie works is the supporting cast. It surrounds the boys with a talented adult ensemble including Will Forte, Lil Rel Howery, Rhetta, and Michaela Watkins who have a lot of fun playing in the sandbox for a couple days. The quiet MVPs of the movie are the teens girls played by Molly Gordon and Midori Francis. They are amazing foils who are old enough to see how ridiculous this all is but young enough to play along anyway. The dynamic of the three leads is interesting. Brady Noon is the Jonah Hill character from Superbad. Jacob Tremblay and Keith L. Williams play two sides of the Michael Cera role. All of them are nimble at turning back into the children they are when the situation calls for it. None of them are precocious. They aren't written like 30 year olds who happen to be 12. They're written as 12 year olds who think they know how 30 year olds act.

There's a lot about Good Boys I'm not sure about. I don't know if it's worth a rewatch. I don't know how much the jokes work because of the surprise factor as opposed to just being well written. I don't know what it says about the world that this movie opened significantly higher than Booksmart did earlier this summer. I liked both a lot. I don't know that this could win over anyone on the fence about it going in. It may just be a movie that's better than expected for the people already expecting to like it. What I am sure about is that I really want to watch Superbad again now.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend