This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Working in the veterinary field, I have always been intrigued by these movies that come out centered around animals. We have already seen one earlier this year, Dog Gone. which shows where live action dog movies are at right now; Not great. Now enters Strays, a movie which has been advertised for the past year it seems. As opposed to many other live action talking dog movies, this one was a rated R comedy, which certainly left me excited. Ultimately though, I left thinking there may be a reason we don’t see more raunchy comedies starring dogs.
Strays stars Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx as they voice the thoughts and words of two dogs. Ferrell is the man behind Reggie, a terrier mix that has an abusive owner, Doug. Doug doesn’t refer to Reggie as his name but rather more vulgar ones that Reggie actually thinks is his name. He gets dropped off in the city where he meets Foxx’s character, Bug.
After Bug shows Reggie the ropes of how to survive in the wild as a “stray”, they meet up with a couple other friends of Bug’s. They all go on an adventure with Reggie to get revenge on Doug for how he has treated him. Along the way, they encounter challenges and other dogs that they have to persevere through.
Comedy movies this year have been meh. With comedy legends such as Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx being in the same movie, I thought it was going to push past the previous movies this year. Sadly, I was wrong. It seemed like both Ferrell and Foxx were just so out of place in a comedy like this. At times, I forgot that it was Will Ferrell that was voicing the character.
The whole story was thought out and while it did have a twist, the premise was mostly boring. I watched this movie with my significant other and we both looked at each other at the end of the movie and just shrugged our shoulders. We thought it would be so much better if it wasn’t rated R and had all the language and innuendos in it.
I feel like Strays would have been much better and more well received had it been made and targeted towards families and younger people. It does teach a valuable lesson in not to neglect or abuse animals, so my thought throughout watching was “Why not show that to the younger generation?”
The subtle details surprised me. Being a veterinary technician and knowing basically almost every dog breed, I was surprised to see the accuracy in the different dog stereotypes. The Great Dane was very skittish while being a huge breed, the little terrier and chihuahuas have small dog syndrome and think they can take on the world; and the collies had great senses and were born to herd. I did find the film a little more enjoyable because of this.
Final Thoughts
Would I choose to watch Strays again this year? Probably not. But I would throw it on if I needed a dumb laugh and watch cute animals go on an adventure? Sure. This is most definitely not a movie made for children, so bear that in mind. If you’re one of those people that enjoys raunchy comedies like this, then you may like this film. For everyone else, it’s probably best to stay away.
