Good Boys A Good Time With the Boyz.... BOI Grade: B

Source: IMDB

Good Boys tells a story about the Bean Bag Boys Max (Jacob Tremblay), Thor (Brady Noon), and Lucas (Keith L. Williams). All three boys beginning their second week in the sixth grade. Max got invited to a party, where it could lead Max to kiss his crush. But unfortunately Max has never kissed a girl, so how shall he learn?! By spying on the next door neighbors. The neighbors have taken Max’s dads precious drone, which later gets destroyed. Max and his friends go on a wild adventure, to replace his dad’s drone. The Cinematography and Score were both fine. The cast in this film were cool. I like how the main leads Jacob Tremblay, Brady Noon, and Keith L. Williams all had great chemistry with each other. You can tell the three young lads had a ball working on this film, you totally bought they were best pals. Jacob Tremblay as always delivers a pretty good performance as Max. Max is just like every other young boy when it comes to their crush: A Cowardly Scared Dog. Max will do whatever it takes to be at this party, so he can get a chance at the woman he really likes... Reminds me of myself.... Ah foolish young Mitch. Though Keith L Williams and Brady Noon barely have the level of experience Jacob has, I thought both had solid performances for the lack of experience they had, I’m impressed. Brady Noon’s character Thor was a good character, represents early stages of peer pressure. Although the film could’ve done a better job with his arc, I still believe he grows throughout the film, leading to a nice conclusion. Keith L Williams character Lucas was solid as well, as his character deals with his parents getting a divorce. It was handled maturely, if one whom has experience their parents having a divorce, you can totally relate to this character. All three were funny characters, I thought the cursing was going to be repetitive which at some points it does... But in the end, the film stays consistent with new jokes for the kids to use instead of just straight up curse words. Molly Gordon and Midori Francis playing the neighbors were fine I guess, I felt the film didn’t give them much material to work with as far as comedy goes. Its strange Lil Rel Howery is in this film playing Lucas’ dad, given the fact he barely has anything to work with. If you’re going to cast Lil Rel, at least generate some laughs as he barely does much, I felt they could’ve casted someone else. Some flaws I have with the film. Some of the comedy material became a little repetitive, some regarding kids swearing but at least it wasn’t obnoxious. I didn’t care for the kids messing around with sex toys, most of those scenes other than the sex doll weren’t funny at all. In the beginning the scene where Max is thinking about masterbating to a WarCraft chick could’ve had a funnier setup or maybe him experiencing a boner for the first time, as he’s freaking out. There is a scene in the third act, involving Max operating a drone as I’m like... I think the dad would rather you take the easier route, than the harder route. I get Max is a kid, but in this scenario where he’s avoiding any kind of punishment, he would take the easier route than making it difficult. I’m sure the dad be like “Son I told you not to play with the drone, it’s not a toy... Alrighty champ have fun at your party!” Good Boys is exactly like the title: It’s Good... Boi. I feared the comedy material was going to be obnoxious, as it was going to be one of those “AHAHAHA KIDS SWEARING, AHAHAHA KID SAID F WORD, AHAHAHAHA!” Like I can’t stand this lazy form of comedy. Luckily this film was fairly consistent with the comedy material, I wouldn’t say I had laughed out moments, but I did laugh quite a bit during this film. I liked the neat relatable jokes whether it came from memories when you were a child, discovering life before your eyes. How it’s a hassle to open up one of those pill bottles or how you think you’re close to a destination.... Then an unexpected highway comes out of nowhere, I can relate to that comedy bit as that happens to me A LOT! The story is simple yet effective, it’s a nice little adventure. I think the last like 20 minutes, when they go to the party and so on were my favorite. That whole 20 minutes really boost this film to that B reputation, it’s funny and so cute the way everything goes and comes to a conclusion. I came with reasonable expectations, as Good Boys actually did not disappoint which is a relief. Overall, Good Boys was a good comedy. I recommend this film, it’s a good time and a sweet reminiscing to everyone’s past childhood. -Mitch Smietana