Good Boys is Pure Pre-Teen Gut Bucket Fun

As a little girl in St. Louis, we played many games outside.  One of the games I often hesitated to play was ‘Catch a girl…kiss a girl’ or ‘spin the bottle.’  I was enormously shy and didn’t want to be ridiculed for not goin though with whatever the dare was.  It was the right of passage to crossing over into pre-teen life among other things.

Imagine getting invited to a ‘kissing’ party by the cool kids, accepting the invite knowing fool well you don’t have a clue about how to kiss.  Max (Jacob Tremblay), Thor (Brady Noon) and Lucas (Keith L. Williams) aka The Bean Bag Boys have made a pact (and yes the name comes from all of them owning an actual bean bag).  They do everything together or not at all. So, when they use Max’s father’s drone to spy on the girls next door and things go left, the boys find themselves on an adventure of epic proportions.

I laughed and laughed and laughed at these boys and their shenanigans.  Each young man equally hilarious.  It was particularly nice to watch Jacob Tremblay (Max) cut loose with some comedy after becoming so synonymous with drama with films like ‘Room.’  Keith L. Williams has been in the game for a minute, usually popping up on numerous hit sitcoms like The Goldbergs to name a few.  Williams has always had that energy like an old soul who has been here before and look of maturity due to a growth sprout was totally taken advantage of in the script making his character funny on a whole other level.  Brady Noon is a little pint sized Charlie Sheen from Ferris Bueller with a conscious and has some really nice moments.

Their nemesis’ in the form of Molly Gordon (Hannah) and Midori Francis (Lillu) who chase and torture them all over town provide for some classic comedy moves last seen in John Hughes classics like The Breakfast Club.

Was a little surprised to hear the language used by the kids throughout the film, but needless to say unlike my generation, this one has to contend with social media and the internet which makes the maturity level and awareness of these kids much more heightened.  Regardless, it’s still funny as hell, gut bucket humor and all.

Produced by Seth Rogen in conjunction with Universal Pictures, Good Boys will have you rolling out loud on August 16th.