Strays (2023) movie review

Strays’ target audience is decisively niche- adults who love dogs but more importantly, movies starring dogs. It’s a shame because, when given a chance, the movie is a real charmer. With an excellent voice cast, the movie is funny, endearing and super cute.

Will Ferrell stars as Reggie, a sweet, little dog owned by Doug (Will Forte, playing the bad guy effortlessly). Reggie loves Doug and is blind to his self-centred, arrogant lifestyle. One day when Doug drives Reggie far far away from their house in a shady part of the town, he believes this is part of a game Doug likes to play with him.

As danger lurks on every corner, Reggie meets a street-wise Boston Terrier named Bug (Jamie Foxx) who opens his eyes to the reality that Reggie is now a stray. And the R-rated show begins! Bug is unbelievably foul-mouthed, especially coming across as such compared to the sweet and docile Reggie.

Bug shows Reggie the ways of life on the street. And that life is lonely unless you have friends. Bug has Maggie (Isla Fisher), who has been abandoned by her owner for Maggie’s daughter, and Hunter (Randall Park) who is an ex-therapy dog. Together, they help Reggie find his old pal Doug so he can bite his dick off as payback.

The movie is littered with jokes, from start to finish. The comedic forces of Ferrell and Foxx are singular in their talent. But, together they are pure electricity. The language is jarring to hear from dogs, which is part of Strays’ appeal. After Foxx, Fisher is the one who gets to make the most of the R rating, and hearing her curse in her original Australian accent is so much fun. 

But the truly amazing feat is the dogs’ performances. They seem genuine thanks to the technical advancements giving it a naturalistic vibe despite its outlandishness. The director, Josh Greenbaum has maintained in interviews that they used real dogs as much as possible without putting them in harm’s way. The makers have achieved what they’ve set out to, as the quality is the movie is crystal and sharp.

Strays works like a coming-of-age high-school comedy in the vein of movies like Superbad. The movie has heart, and its characters are sketched out with palpable personalities. It strikes a special cord because these are dogs; they are vulnerable, inherently loving and bound to make mistakes. This makes them more human than the characters we see in many movies. It doesn’t matter whether you like dogs or dog movies. If you like movies, give Strays a shot. You won’t regret it.