Growing up is hard. In this week’s Disc Dive, we see just how hard it can be for the Bean Bag Boys in Gene Stupnitsky’s directorial debut, Good Boys.
Title: Good Boys
Director: Gene Stupnitsky
Released: August 14, 2019 (Theatrical – Belgium and Sweden)
Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
Disc Format: Blu-ray
Max (Jacob Tremblay), Lucas (Keith L. Williams), and Thor (Brady Noon) are best friends. They’ve grown up together, gone to school together, and their parents are friends with one another. This tight bond has led them to call themselves the Bean Bag Boys.
As they prepare to enter the sixth grade, life starts to come at them fast. Lucas learns that his parents are getting a divorce, Thor is mercilessly teased for his passion of singing, and Max has developed a crush on his classmate, Brixlee (Millie Davis).
Max scores an invite to a “kissing party” that’s going to be hosted by Soren (Izaac Wang), one of the most popular kids in sixth grade. There’s just one problem, none of the boys know how to kiss.
Trying to learn how to kiss from the internet just winds up exposing the boys to graphic pornography. So, they decide to try the next best thing… spy on their teenage neighbor, Hannah (Molly Gordon).
To do this, the Bean Bag Boys decide to use Max’s dad’s prized drone. They fly it out over Hannah’s house and almost immediately lose it over the fence. Hannah is now in possession of the drone and the boys, somehow, are in possession of Hannah’s ecstasy.
If they don’t get that drone back into Max’s dad’s office, there’s no way they’ll ever make it to Soren’s party.
Can the boys overcome sex toys, drugs, and beer in order to get the drone back home?
Good Boys is a movie that you will either love or hate. There isn’t a lot of middle ground to be had. That being said, I have two feet firmly planted in camp “love it”.
Think of it as Superbad for middle schoolers, and you’ll know pretty quickly which camp you’re in.
Foul-mouthed children will never not be funny to me and that remains true here. What elevates those occurrences from funny to hilarious is when there’s an innocence to how they’re swearing. In fact, their innocence is why everything works as well as it does.
Whether it’s online porn, sex toys, a sex doll, or drugs and alcohol, the boys genuinely don’t know what any of it is. Their world is quickly changing and they’re just trying to figure it out as they go along. Tremblay, Williams, and Noon also have incredible chemistry together. The Bean Bag Boys have a sense of authenticity to them, like they truly are a trio who have been friends for years.
But the supporting cast deserves just as much credit. Molly Gordon and Midori Francis, as the teenage girls the boys keep finding themselves tangled up with, are a perfect comic foil. They aren’t villains, they’re just older, and that distinction becomes funnier every time the four of them share the screen. Will Forte doesn’t get a ton of screen time as Max’s dad, but he’s the kind of actor who can say more with a look than most can with a monologue.
Good Boys understands that the key to this kind of comedy is committing fully to the bit. The movie never winks too hard at the audience. Rather, it trusts that the situations are funny enough on their own.
It also helps that this comes in at a tight 90 minutes. Gets in, makes you laugh, and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
If you haven’t seen it, seek it out. If you have seen it, throw it on and give it a rewatch.
The world is bleak, we could all use some good laughs.
So, what are your thoughts on Good Boys?
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