movie reviews for strays

Full disclosure, right off the top: I knew I was going to be a soft touch on “Strays.”

We’re a longtime Boston Terrier family, and I’ve always wondered what our dogs would sound like if they could talk to us. (Surely, I’m not the only one who entertains such insane ideas.) So the prospect of an R-rated comedy in which Jamie Foxx provides the voice of a street-smart Boston named Bug—who drops copious F-bombs, gets high on mushrooms, and humps discarded couches—was very exciting.

“Strays” is pretty much a one-joke movie, one last romp at the end of summer. But it finds enough ways into that joke within its perfectly pithy running time to remain zippy and enjoyable. The way it upends heartwarming dog adventure movie tropes is often hilariously inspired. And there’s great chemistry within the voice cast, particularly between Foxx and star Will Ferrell , who had the unusual benefit of recording together.

Director Josh Greenbaum has shown a flair for out-there comedy with a sweetness at its core in the delightfully bizarre “ Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar ” (2021). He achieves a similar balance with raunchier material in “Strays.” Besides featuring a ton of profanity, the screenplay from Dan Perrault includes plenty of poop and pee jokes (not all of which are entirely puerile), vigorous humping, and some wilderness mayhem that some may find shocking. But the film also explores the importance of identifying and escaping toxic relationships, achieving a sense of self-worth, and basking in the support of deep and unexpected friendships.

I may have teared up a few times. Like I said at the start, a soft touch. Your mileage may vary on this canine road trip.

“Strays” begins on an upbeat note with narration from Ferrell as Reggie, an adorably scruffy Border terrier who’s clueless to the fact that his miserable, abusive owner ( Will Forte ) hates him and keeps trying to abandon him. “Today is going to be the best day ever!” he intones in a sunny manner reminiscent of Margot Robbie ’s optimism at the start of “ Barbie .” And totally coincidentally, “Strays” shares a similar structure to Greta Gerwig ’s mega-blockbuster: Idealistic character leaves home, goes to the “real world,” makes friends, and learns hard truths before returning to fix things with the newfound knowledge. Only in this case, the protagonist’s purpose is literally to bite off his owner’s penis, a more violent form of eviscerating the patriarchy than Barbie ever could imagine. Ferrell is essentially doing a version of his character in “ Elf ” here, mixing wide-eyed enthusiasm with deadpan observations and bringing his signature sincerity to a silly role. As always, he’s a hoot.

After his owner dumps him in a faraway city, Reggie gets help in his quest from the trash-talking Bug, who insists he wants to be a stray and navigates the world with the swagger of a little dog who thinks he’s big. Foxx has fantastic energy here, savoring the musicality of his character’s every profane tirade. Along for the trip are the Australian shepherd Maggie ( Isla Fisher ), a gifted sniffer, and a Great Dane named Hunter ( Randall Park ), a former police K-9 who now works as a therapy dog for the elderly.

Cursing and calamitous antics ensue, much of which you’ve probably already seen in the trailer, but thankfully there are plenty of surprises in store. The visual effects work is mostly seamless, with all of the dogs (and their unseen trainers) giving impressive physical performances. Some of the CGI in the face and mouth movements are distractingly jumpy and inconsistent, especially regarding Bug’s dialogue. Is it too much to ask for total realism in a late-summer talking dog movie?  

The gross-out gags may grow a bit repetitive, but “Strays” ultimately redeems itself by ending on a note that’s feel-good without being cloying. It features some amusing insights into how dogs perceive the world, from fireworks to postal workers. And it just might make you think twice about what that pampered Pomeranian in the expensive sweater is barking about at the dog park.

Now playing in theaters. 

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series “Ebert Presents At the Movies” opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

• Will Ferrell as Reggie (voice)
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• Brett Gelman as
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• Sofía Vergara as Deliliah the Couch (voice)
• Dan Perrault
• Dara Taylor
• David Rennie
• Greg Hayden
• Sabrina Plisco
• Josh Greenbaum

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Crudely effective and effectively crude, Strays is more amusing than hilarious, but this comedy's scattershot humor is partly offset by its surprisingly big heart.

Strays is funny enough to recommend as a raunchy good time -- just know that it definitely isn't for kids or the easily offended.

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‘Strays’ Review: A Raunchy Comedy Goes to the Dogs

Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx voice two canines on a quest for revenge in this crude live-action feature.

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By Glenn Kenny

The King James Bible is loaded with memorable analogies, and one of the most vivid is from Proverbs: “As a dog returneth to its vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” It’s true — a dog will do that. A dog might also sample the vomit of another dog, as is depicted in one of the many intestinal, fecal and urinal gags served up in the relentlessly raunchy comedy “Strays.”

Directed by Josh Greenbaum from a script by Dan Perrault, “Strays” tells the story of Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), a winsome Border terrier who is abandoned by his owner, the miserable, porn-addict stoner Doug (Will Forte).

Alone in an alley, Reggie gets the come-on from some sexy Afghan hounds. How does prostitution work in unsupervised dog society? It is never explained, just as it’s never explained why the animals speak to each other in English while not understanding the English spoken by the humans. The movie uses a mix of live action and computer animation, but world-building was not quite a priority here.

Once Reggie meets the street-smart Boston terrier Bug (Jamie Foxx) and realizes the extent to which Doug hated him, he resolves to find the man and bite off one of his most beloved extremities. In this quest, the new friends are joined by two domesticated dogs: Hunter (Randall Park), a timid Great Dane, and Maggie (Isla Fisher), an elegant but earthy Australian Shepherd.

Over the next 90-plus minutes, the canines drop as many F-bombs as Pacino did in “Scarface.” Then there are the scatological jokes, each one more outlandish than the last, none bearing the slightest tinge of wit or joy. (The thing about John Waters’s extreme underground comedies is that they had, you know, enthusiasm.) Granted, a scene here that takes aim at the convention of the “narrator dog” does produce a curdled laugh, but it does so on its way to a truly nihilistic punchline.

And yet as that proverb warns, one unfortunately can’t rule out a sequel.

Strays Rated R for relentless language, crude humor and gore. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters.

An earlier version of this review misstated a type of dog in “Strays.” Reggie is a Border terrier, not a mutt. The error was repeated in a picture caption.

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‘strays’ review: will ferrell and jamie foxx lead voice cast in an amusingly dirty dog-com.

Isla Fisher, Randall Park and Josh Gad are among the other voice performers in this raunchy canine comedy from 'Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar' director Josh Greenbaum.

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Strays offers everything a canine lover could possibly want: dogs peeing, dogs pooping, dogs humping, dogs puking, dogs talking dirty, dogs getting high, dogs…well, you get the idea.

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Until, that is, Reggie gets thoroughly lost in a big city, where he becomes friends with Bug (Foxx), a foul-mouthed Boston Terrier who quickly wises him up to Doug’s true nature.

Reggie is still determined to get back home, this time not for a joyful reunion but rather to bite off Doug’s favorite part of his anatomy, one to which he pays near constant attention (the sight of Forte shaving his nether regions is not easily forgotten). He’s joined in his quest by two other new acquaintances: Maggie ( Isla Fisher ), an Australian Shepherd with a killer nose for sniffing out scents; and Hunter ( Randall Park ), an anxiety-ridden Great Dane who works as a therapy dog in a hospice after flunking out of the canine police academy. Hunter wears a protective cone around his neck — not because he needs one, but because it makes him feel more at ease.

It’s no wonder the film’s poster features one of the dogs prominently holding an R-rating announcement in his mouth, since careless parents who bring their kids to see these adorable pups will have a lot of explaining to do to their traumatized children. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, though, since Strays also delivers a heartfelt message about the importance of loving our endlessly loyal canine pets. And not letting them eat wild mushrooms, as that would result in them getting stoned out of their minds, which happens here.

In case you’re wondering how the dogs appear to be talking, it’s with the same CGI animation that has made doggie lips move in many previous films, a visual effect that is as creepy as it is uncanny. And although there’s no small amount of other visual trickery in the film’s animal depictions (squirrels and eagles also appear), the real dog performers have clearly been extremely well trained in their paces, delivering the sort of complex, nuanced performances that should put many human thespians to shame. Director Josh Greenbaum ( Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar ) clearly has the patience of a saint.

Among the other vocal performers are Rob Riggle and Josh Gad as a pair of overzealous K-9 dogs and Sofia Vergara as a seductive couch. And if you have to ask how a couch can be seductive, you haven’t been around enough dogs. There’s also a fun cameo by a famous actor who’s starred in a couple of hit dog-themed movies himself.

If you’re wondering whether Reggie gets to complete his mission of revenge, suffice it to say that Forte proves himself a good sport and you’ll never hear Miley Cyrus’ hit song “Wrecking Ball” the same way again.  

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An abandoned dog teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner. An abandoned dog teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner. An abandoned dog teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner.

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• Trivia The puppy playing Young Reggie was adopted by director Josh Greenbaum.
• Goofs It is lovely that Maggie, an Australian shepherd, is voiced with an Australian accent. However, the breed was developed in the USA and is wholly an American breed.

Reggie : Why is Doug so great? Where do I begin? He loves being around me so much, he doesn't even have a job.

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Paul schrader went shopping while watching ‘joker: folie à deux’: “i don’t like the whole thing”, ‘strays’ review: will ferrell and jamie foxx in scrappy, raunchy, sweet, r-rated talking-dog movie – what more could you want.

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From Lassie and Rin Tin Tin to 101 Dalmatians, Old Yeller, My Dog Skip, Homeward Bound, A Dog’s Purpose and on and on, the canine genre has been a staple of Hollywood movies for decades. I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone got the idea to make a balls-out, foul-mouthed, R-rated subversion of it all, and finally its time has come with the irresistible Strays , a film definitely not designed as a family movie or for kids — though I would bet, despite the language and nonstop dick jokes, they would love it anyway.

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Writer Dan Perrault goes for the gutter in much of the dialogue and situations, but importantly he does not forget the heart of it all, and ultimately we are really rooting for these four-legged friends to find happiness and their forever homes. There isn’t a mean bone in Strays except for Forte’s disgusting Doug, and boy does he ever get his in the end (or should I say the front) . Director Josh Greenbaum and his production team pull it all off with technical expertise, a real feat since the dogs are the focus for all 93 minutes of this fast-moving comedy. Ferrell and Foxx are pitch perfect in their voice work, but Fisher and Park really are the scene stealers on the vocal side. You have to applaud Forte, a genuinely nice guy most of the time, for taking on such an evil guy, but he doesn’t hold back. We hate Doug. Brett Gelman as Willy, an animal control officer, also is appropriately pathetic. Josh Gad, Harvey Guillen, Jamie Demetriou and Sofia Vergara (as a couch for humping!) are other voices along the way, with a nice turn from Rob Riggle as Rolf, a German Shepherd police dog on the hunt for a missing girl scout. There is also a very brief cameo from a certain A Dog’s Purpose star that gets a big laugh.

Producers are Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Erik Feig, Aditya Sood, Louis Letterier and Perrault.

Title: Strays Release date: August 18, 2023 Distributor: Universal Pictures Director: Josh Greenbaum Screenwriter: Dan Perrault Cast: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Brett Gelman, Will Forte, Josh Gad, Harvey Guillen, Rob Riggle, Jamie Demetriou, Sofia Vergara Rating: R Running time: 1 hr 33 min

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Strays Is Crude, Rude, and Very Funny

I can’t immediately recall the exact moment that Strays randomly cut away to a shot of three squirrels fucking, but I knew then that the movie had won my heart. Josh Greenbaum’s comedy is built around a simple premise, which is that watching animals act and speak in profane ways is inherently hilarious. That premise is solid. What’s more, that premise is true: Animals are animals, and while sweet, family-friendly quests of discovery like The Incredible Journey certainly have their place, sometimes you just have to let a dog hump the couch. Maybe because on some subconscious level, we ourselves probably wish we could hump that couch. If my cat could speak, I doubt he’d be proper and wise; he’d be foul-mouthed and filter-free.

Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), the Border terrier protagonist of Strays , is none of those things. Rather, he’s an innocent dolt with a pothead layabout, Doug (Will Forte), for his ostensible owner. Besides being an all-around dirtbag, Doug also blames the dog for the breakup of his most recent relationship and thus wants desperately to be rid of this eager pup. Doug’s increasingly elaborate efforts to lose Reggie by driving him further and further away are ultimately successful, and our hero finds himself lost in the big city where he befriends a pack of strays led by Bug (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a chatty Boston terrier. Once he realizes that Doug meant to get rid of him, Reggie decides to embark on a quest to find his old human and bite his penis off. Bug joins in, along with Maggie (Isla Fisher), an Australian Shepherd with a keen sense of smell, and Hunter (Randall Park), an anxious Great Dane who had dreams of becoming a K-9 but now works as a therapy dog. (He wears a cone not because he’s recovering from anything, but because it makes him feel safe.)

If you’ve seen the trailer, you pretty much know what the movie is: a constant escalation of rudeness with director Greenbaum and writer Dan Perrault trying to one-up themselves from scene to scene. The film’s bits play off on familiar notions like dogs’ fear of fireworks or their hatred of the mailman, not to mention the idea that you own what you pee on. (This does lead to a particularly funny bonding scene where the dogs pee on each other.) The story doesn’t want to surprise us so much as it wants to live down to our crude expectations. At its best, as with the aforementioned squirrel-a-trois , Strays jolts us with randomness. But most of the time, it’s pleasingly, predictably deranged. Then, just when it seems like it might start to head in a more treacly direction, it turns right back around and gets even nastier. With all its vulgarity, the movie plays to your inner nine-year-old, even though nine-year-olds probably shouldn’t see it.

But beneath all the shit and dick jokes, Strays is also artfully done. The dogs are a combination of real animal performances and VFX, especially when it comes to mouth movements. It’s fairly seamless; the characters seem to move and act mostly like real animals, which in turn makes the profanity that much funnier. Ferrell is an old hand at playing kind-hearted, naïve innocents. This man was Elf , after all. He brings some of that same wide-eyed, childlike energy to the voice of Reggie. Foxx has always been great at playing confident motor-mouths, and he gives Bug a punchy grandiosity that feels just right. For all the iron-clad hilarity of its premise, Strays wouldn’t work nearly as well if it weren’t so well cast.

Strays seeks to fill the shoes of previous movies like Good Boys (they’re kids … and they’re profane!) and Sausage Party (they’re food … and they’re profane!), but it can’t quite reach the heights of those films, which actually had some thematic oomph to them. ( Sausage Party in particular worked its way to a pretty damning exploration of religious belief.) In its sly nods to noble-animal movies and previous journeys of discovery, Strays feels more like a spoof, the kind of movie that only exists in the light of other movies. That’s okay. Its inspired depravity is more than enough for a few good belly laughs, and really, what more does one want from Hollywood in the middle of August?

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This review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn't exist. The R-rated comedy isn't what it used to be. It's not that it declined in quality, as recent films like No Hard Feelings and Joy Ride have demonstrated , but gone are the days of films like Ted , 21 Jump Street , and Bridesmaids dominating the box office. That's why a movie like Strays is so promising. Following in the tradition of Sausage Party , Good Boys , and The Happytime Murders , the new comedy takes something that, from the outside, might appear kid-friendly and morphs it into something edgier and R-rated. Throw in the creatives behind Barb & Star go to Vista del Mar , American Vandal , and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse , and an adorable canine cast voiced by an A-list stars, and you've got yourself a potential winner.

Strays follows Reggie ( Will Ferrell ), a naive two-year-old Border Terrier who is abandoned by his cruel and selfish owner Doug ( Will Forte ), who blames the hapless pup for his girlfriend dumping him. Fortunately, Reggie isn't on his own for too long as he quickly befriends the feisty and street smart Boston Terrier Bug ( Jamie Foxx ), who teaches him the ropes of being a stray. Bug also introduces Reggie to two "non" strays, Maggie ( Isla Fisher ), an Australian Shepard whose young owner has begun to ignore her in favor of a new puppy, and Hunter ( Randall Park ), an anxious and awkward therapy dog who wears a cone. While initially in denial of Doug's abusive and neglectful behavior, Reggie is soon convinced and vows revenge on his former owner. Specifically, he wants to get it by "biting his dick off." Throughout their journey, the four dogs deal with fireworks, mushrooms, killer birds, lost girls, poop, and a sensitive dogcatcher ( Brett Gelman ) all while their perspectives on the world around them start to shift.

RELATED: 'Strays' Director Josh Greenbaum on R-Rated Talking-Dog Comedy, Lord and Miller’s Involvement [Exclusive]

'Strays' Plays out Exactly as Advertised

If you've seen the trailer for Strays , then you should know exactly what to expect. It's 90 minutes of talking dogs constantly cursing, making sex jokes, pooping, and getting into all sorts of trouble. Much of the humor does rely on the novelty of the likes of its furry four-legged cast saying the most inappropriate things imaginable, and while at times it can feel overly juvenile, it still works quite well. Director Josh Greenbaum and screenwriter Dan Perrault inject much of the personality that they brought to prior projects into Strays . They're not trying to cram a hamfisted message into the film or attempting to make the movie into something it's not, and they seem perfectly fine sticking with its crass sense of humor.

Some of the jokes starts to wear thin at times, including a running bit about one of the dog's unusually large genitalia, but as soon as the laughs start to peter out, another comedic bit will play that will have you howling with laughter, so to speak. This includes an uproarious parody of A Dog's Purpose and a handful of unexpected cameos. Even underneath all of its filthiness, Strays still proudly wears its heart on its sleeve. There are themes of getting out of a toxic relationship, building trust, and finding your own makeshift family. It's able to balance all of this without losing its sense of humor or slowing the movie down.

Strays also runs at a brisk runtime of 93 minutes and the intentionally chaotic energy makes it feel even shorter than that. At times this leaves the film feel a bit rushed and repetitive, as the characters find themselves taking detours before returning to the same location that they were at fifteen minutes prior. The plot itself is very loose, but it's doubtful that anyone is going into this movie expecting some unpredictable and memorable story. You're here to see dogs swear like sailors and that's exactly what you'll get.

Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx Memorably Lead the Pack

If you weren't already sold by the sheer concept of Strays , the film also boasts a stellar voice cast led by A-listers like Ferrell and Foxx. Ferrell's voice perfectly fits Reggie's innocence, he's playing it similarly to what he did with Buddy the Elf, but obviously with much less of a filter. While it's already easy to root for an adorable dog in a movie, Ferrell still doesn't phone it in, although he's playing more of the straight man compared to his co-star. Foxx's voice injects so much energy into the foul-mouthed Boston Terrier Bug and, just like with Ferrell, he could have easily phoned in the role. Instead, he opts to go all out and takes full advantage of the film's R-rating. Fisher and Park are equally amusing as Maggie and Hunter, both of whom are clearly having a ball with their roles.

Forte also gets a couple of good laughs as the film's human lead (and villain) Doug, despite only being present during the very beginning and the end of the film. It was a bold choice for Forte to take on this kind of role as his character is designed to make the audience immediately hate him, but he manages to make it work as the porn-addicted, weed-smoking loser who takes pride in his private parts over anything else.

Strays aims to be as raunchy and dirty as a talking dog movie can get, taking full advantage of its premise, although never really going anywhere beyond that. Not all the jokes land perfectly, but those that do illicit some of the biggest and best laughs you'll have at the theater all summer. Those who were left unimpressed by the film's marketing should likely sit this one out, but those looking to embrace their inner middle-schooler sense of humor will have a ball with Strays .

The Big Picture

• Strays delivers exactly what it promises: 90 minutes of talking dogs making inappropriate jokes, cursing, and getting into trouble. The humor may be juvenile at times, but it works well overall.
• The film boasts a stellar voice cast with Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx leading the pack.
• While the plot may feel rushed and repetitive, Strays succeeds at being a raunchy dog movie that doesn't strive to be anything more.

Strays comes to theaters on August 18.

• Movie Reviews
• Strays (2023)
• Will Ferrell