Comedies feel far and few between right now. Funny ones are even rarer these days. So how delightful that the audacious and outrageous “Strays” has come to throw the book at us to try and make us laugh. And I mean anything. While this talking dog movie is not an instant classic, Jeff Greenbaum’s film, lead by strong and hilarious lead vocal performances by Will Ferrel and Jamie Fox, has its share of laugh out loud moments and is fearless in the lengths it will go to for a laugh.
Will Ferrell voices a tiny scraggly dog named Reggie. Reggie is owned by a deadbeat owner named Doug who hates Reggie but kept him out of spite following the breakup with his owner. Will Farrel is the perfect eternal naïve optimistic voice for Reggie who doesn’t realize that Doug is trying to lose him when he takes him miles away to play fetch before he drives away. Reggie calls the game “Fetch and F***” which is what Doug proclaims every time Reggie finds his way back to the house.
Eventually Doug takes Reggie hours away into a creepy ally in the middle of a big city and Reggie finds himself truly lost and confronted by some bigger foul mouthed bully dogs who may/or may not kill him. In walks a small but cocky, fast talking and crazy small dog named Bug whose crazy act annoys the bigger dogs to leave. Jamie Fox voices Doug with rapid fire cockiness and confidence and is a perfect compliment for Reggie who he instantly wants to protect and enlighten.
Reggie introduces him to an insecure Collie named Maggie who is brilliant but is upstaged by a new stagy puppy who is taking all the attention, and a depressed ex-police dog who wears a cone for comfort. They are voiced by Isla Fischer and Randal park. The 3 of them finally convince Reggie that Doug is a horrible owner and treated him like crap. At which point Reggie proclaims he is going to go back and bite Doug’s dick off. The rest of them are excited about this realization and they set out on a road trip to find Doug. The dogs then travel days and nights, in dog pounds, fairs, and have adventures with mushrooms and, yes, there is of course poop and pee scenes.
The effects are first rate and seamless for a talking dog movie and all the voice performances are picture perfect. Josh Gad has a great bit part as narrator dog, and Rob Riggle brings a hilariously over the top macho quality as a Police Dog who berates our group. Will Forte is absolutely perfect as the one key human character. A proud loser who calls his mom to complain that she is not paying his rent anymore and blames the world for all his dead beat problems. He particularly blames Reggie. He has to be really effective scum bag to have the audience rooting for Reggie to complete his goal.
Greenbaum keeps the pace perfect. 1 hour 33 minutes is just the right length for an over the top gross out comedy about talking dogs. The audacity and boldness of the script and gags keeps is bold but would not amount to anything if the jokes didn’t hit as much as they do. From poop, penises, pee, and sex with garden gnomes, nothing is off limits.
Greenbaum’s “Strays” is like a twisted melding of “South Park” and “Babe”. The twisted cynicism of course goes gets lifted a bit at the end for some small well earned sweet moments, but with some great gags, seamless special effects and great engaging and hilarious voice work from the ever dependable funny men Will Farrell and Jamie Fox, “Strays” is a great hour and half to forget your problems and just laugh.