As we are inundated with bills to pay, crumbling politics, and more responsibilities than we sometimes want to bear, all of have moments where we wish we could just be kids again. The simplicity of life and innocence inherent in childhood present a welcome respite from everything else. While we can’t travel back in time, films like Good Boys can offer us a glimpse back in time to when our worries paled in comparison to what we have now. Invited to his first kissing party, 12-year-old Max (Jacob Tremblay) asks his best friends Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) for some much-needed help on how to pucker up. When they hit a dead end, Max decides to use his father’s drone to spy on the teenage girls next door. When the boys lose the drone, they skip school and hatch a plan to retrieve it before Max’s dad can figure out what happened.
In a cinematic climate that seems inundated with humor even in spots where it isn’t appropriate or timely, Good Boys and its style of humor is a breath of fresh air. As the young actors in the film rattled off one inappropriate joke after another to my uproarious delight, I was struck by how refreshed I was to have the return of inappropriate, raunchy humor onscreen. Non-sanitized, R-rated humor has been widely debated as of late not just in the context of a film starring a trio of pre-teens, but in terms of the future of comedy in general. As we navigate our increasingly sensitive culture and populace, the place of envelope pushing humor within it is currently up in the air. Stand-up comedy legend Chris Rock has bemoaned this generation of young people’s aversion to edgy comedy as them not letting comedians “be offensive on your way to being inoffensive.” which Good Boys does in spades. Sure, the young boys in the film may watch, and be grossed out by, a porn scene lampooning the increasingly popular stepmom-stepson genre, but it isn’t crass for crassness sake, the point being driven home is the boys’ innocence in navigating the big step in growing up that is increased interaction with young girls. Great comedy uses absurdity to challenge and teach us and placing constraints on this ability only serves to lessen the bite that good comedy can provide. The success of Good Boys shows that there still may be a place for adult themed comedy yet.
Aside from the raunchy, guilty pleasure laughs supplied by Good Boys, what powers the entertaining nature of the film is the nostalgic trip it takes the audience on in reliving their own experiences as adolescents before the age and life teamed up to bog us all down with responsibilities and end our innocent view of the world. The interaction and hijinks that Max, Lucas, and Thor embark on throughout their eventful day will undoubtedly evoke memories within viewers of the adventures that they experienced in their younger years with friends. Things like the holy reverence foisted upon being able to take multiple sips of beer, knowing what sex is but not really knowing what sex is, or being stuck between wanting to explore your newly burgeoning desire for independence but still wanting your parents close by to coddle you. All of these joys of developing and transitioning from childhood to being a teenager that seem so much simpler and pleasant after years of the seriousness of adulthood.
Good Boys provides a ton of inappropriate, line-pushing humor that is sure to tickle the funny bone, but it is not provocative just to shock; it also brings to the screen a sweetness and tender callback to the childhood that all of us has lost and remember fondly. The trio of Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, and Brady Noon execute wonderful performances that help in allowing the audience to hearken back to those memories of youth and put themselves in the shoes of young kids that worry about impressing their peers, doing everything the “right way” when it comes to growing up, and viewing the world through innocent lenses. All in all, Good Boys is a fun time at the movies and a welcome flashback to simpler times for us all.
Image: Universal Pictures
