Good Boys | SXSW 2019 Film Review

For those of you reading this, long gone are the days when we worried about making the transition from fifth to sixth grade. But what we can recall, is how troubling that transition could be. Friendships change, cliques are established, teasing intensifies, and the best of it all – puberty comes a’ knocking. That’s exactly what the sixth graders in Good Boys must face.

After being invited to a kissing party by the coolest kid in the lunchroom, Max (Jacob Tremblay) enlists his friends Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) to help him figure out how to properly kiss a lady. With many failed Google searches on kissing the intended lips – and inevitably an uncomfortable search using the four letter word (porn) – the boys band together to spy on the cute neighbor girl, Hannah (Molly Gordon), using Max’s out-of-town father’s work drone. Uh-oh. This really comes as no surprise, as young kids often have this heightened sense of being infallible. And of course, the one thing Max’s father tells him not to touch is coincidentally the same thing that is left right out in the open next to a window.

Good Boys has a wonderful cast of young actors, and without it, is something that can occasionally become distracting or unbelievable. This is not an issue that ever even crossed my mind here. Tremblay, Williams, and Noon all work as a Three Musketeers trio who make unintentionally bad decisions thinking it will solve the problem: get the drone back, learn how to kiss, and attend the party. The way they interact with each other – timely remarks, relatable camaraderie, and the overall chemistry on screen – felt so genuine and makes for a unique aspect of the film. I have to admit, though, by the end of the movie the drone felt like a fourth character in the group as it lands in almost as many scenes as the next door neighbor Hannah does. Because of your concern for Max, you indubitably come to care about the drone’s safety as well.

The story here is simple, but the complications along the way provide for an utter comical ride and lead to a narrative ultimately about friendship and the transition into middle school. We’ve all experienced the struggles of trying to fit in and avoid being the “social piranha” of the school, but these friends stick together despite everything and I believe that’s an important underlying message to get across while making everyone laugh.

The humor is intended to make you cringe as an adult, because you know what’s to come next (see the red band trailer for the segment on anal beads), but our Musketeers never make you feel like the jokes are forced or come unnatural to them. That’s one of the most satisfying parts of Good Boys, is we get to see reality unravel in front of these children’s eyes. As grown ups, these revelations are far from current for us and it definitely wouldn’t be as hilarious if it were our own children that found mom and dad’s sex toys. The use of blue comedy will have you covering your mouth laughing and also questioning if you’ll ever leave your kids home alone again.

The entire theater was in an uproar for nearly the entire film, and for very good reason. Clever dialogue, an effective use of music, montage sequences, and overall great directing from Gene Stupnitsky makes Good Boys the most inappropriately fantastic comedy you’re going to see this year.