Good Boys

Good Boys

Starring Jacob Tremblay, Brady Noon, Keith L. Williams, Molly Gordon
Directed by Gene Stupnitsky

The Story:
Tween best friends Max (Jacob Tremblay), Thor (Brady Noon), and Lucas (Keith L. Williams) are social outcasts at their school, but Max gets an invite by one of the popular kids to attend a party he's throwing - where there'll be kissing.  Max convinces him to include his friends, and they realize they don't know how to kiss, and Max desperately wants to impress his crush Brixlee (Millie Davis).

Max decides to use his dad's drone to spy on neighbor Hannah (Molly Gordon) and her friend Lily (Midori Francis), but they end up confiscating the drone and threatening to not return it, and Max fears his father will find out and ground him.  The boys go on a desperate search for a new drone, as well as learning how to kiss and encountering several hilarious missteps along the way that both tighten their bonds and also threaten to pull them apart forever.

The Synopsis:
In a cinematic world filled with sequels, prequels, comic-book movies, films based off other books, and all kinds of unoriginal content, "Good Boys" erupted on the screen and proved that an original idea can be a huge hit - it became only the second original film this year (besides "Us") to debut at number one, and provided enough belly laughs to entertain even the most hardened skeptic - for at least the first two-thirds of the film.  After we get used to these tweens cursing, running afoul of every type of trouble, and also maintain their youthful innocence, the film begins to drag some and the laughs aren't as frequent, but thanks to the charismatic, charming three young actors, it doesn't drag the film down as badly as it could've.

The film follows a day in the life of three socially outcast sixth graders who get invited to the biggest party of the year, and realize they don't know how to kiss.  Max, especially, finds this problematic because he has a crush on a girl that'll be there, and he doesn't want to kiss badly, so they embark on an adventure of wild proportions that involve using a drone to spy on a teenage neighbor, stealing beer to look cool (in front of a cop), crossing a busy highway, getting into a fight with a local fraternity, and loads of other missteps that lead to truly hilarious moments.  The kids manage to maintain a surprisingly delicate balance of youthful innocence with crude humor (basically because they really don't seem to understand the language they're actually speaking), and their friendship is the heart of the film - and as the day progresses, this friendship is put to the ultimate test, one which pretty much everyone in life has gone through in their most formidable years.

The three young actors are tremendous in their performances.  Jacob Tremblay (the most seasoned, who exploded out the gate with the Academy Award-nominated film "Room") plays Max, who serves as the group's de facto leader who spurs the others on to complete their harebrained scheme to get his stolen drone back and learn how to kiss to impress a girl.  He's the most hormonal of the three, and also the most well-rounded in the fact that the other two are completely over-the-top in different ways, but Max brings a surprising balance to the group.  Tremblay manages to use his wise-beyond-his-years talent to once again prove he's one of today's youngest talented actors.

Brady Noon plays Thor, who - like his name seemingly implies - serves as the muscle in the group, but also is the most insecure.  He loves to sing, but pulls out of the high school play (which, for added humor, is the very adult "Rock of Ages") because the cool kids would make fun of him, as they already do because he refused to drink beer.  He acts tough around his friends, but is the one who always backs out when problems hit, and Noon gives a great balance in his performance.

The scene stealer in the film is clearly Keith L. Williams, who plays the straight-laced Lucas.  He is the tattle-tale of the group, and cannot keep a secret to save his life, but his performance is so endearing and sensitive you can't help but love him for it.  He's the true "good boy" in the film, and also gets some of the best deadpan responses to the situations the boys find themselves in, as well as delivering the most hilarious feminine scream you've heard come from anyone not a woman.  Williams charms with his nonchalant method of talking, and gives the most hilarious line in the entire film near its climax, which had me laughing so hard I could barely breathe (it might not be everyone's favorite line, but from my personal unique sense of humor, it matched perfectly).    

When I was young, I had two neighbors, and each neighbor had kids my age (my immediate next-door neighbor had two, and the one next to them had three), and the six of us were inseparable.  We rode bikes, explored the woods, played in each others' houses, and had the time of our lives.  We thought we'd always be friends, but now I hardly even think about them.  One of the older characters in the film cynically comments that she used to be friends with kids who were "closeby and whose parents were friends," and the boys realize that that's exactly why they're friends as well, and this is the surprisingly poignant heart of the film.  We see that these kids grow up more than just learning how to kiss, and dealing with their newfound wisdom is what threatens to drive a permanent wedge between them, or use that knowledge to understand that you don't have to change friends if you understand that friends change.  It's a deeply thoughtful subtext to an otherwise laugh-out-loud raunchy comedy, and proves that you can have the laughs and the drama and enjoy them both.

The Summary:
Thanks to the talent of three young actors, "Good Boys" manages to keep the goodwill going throughout a slightly longer-than-needed runtime that provides some great belly laughs as well as thoughtful insights you wouldn't expect to find.

The Score: A