Film Review: Good Boys

Seth Rogen serves as producer on this comedy about good boys gone bad.

Max (Jacob Tremblay), Lucas (Keith L Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) are three best friends who have just made the big leap from fifth grade to sixth grade. The 'Bean Bag Buddies' as they call themselves are as thick as thieves, but far from the coolest kids in the cafeteria.

When Max scores an invite to a party hosted by big dog on the playground Soren (Izaac Wang), he sees it as an opportunity to get close to his crush, Brixlee (Millie Davis).

However, before they can make it to the party, the three friends find themselves caught up in a series of escalating misadventures that involve illegal drugs, a stolen drone, a sex doll and two imposing teenage girls. Now it's time for them to step up to the plate and act their age – well, sort of.

Not all will agree with me, but there's some perverse joy to be found in children using swear words. It will never not be funny. Good Boys at first appears to milking this fact for all its worth (and little else). These three kiddywinks indulging in all manner of colourful language forms the centre of Good Boys, but it's not all the film has to offer.

At worst, it's the kind of throwaway comedy you watch on a long haul flight. For every joke that bangs, there's another that misfires. At best, it carries a message about friendship and lifting each other up during that part of your life where all these new emotions flood your brain. What it lacks in creativitiy it makes up for elsewhere, such as the three central performances from Tremblay, Noon and Williams.

It's not without its charms, and even though the jokes are a little dependent on the profane and already dated references, it works.

The Verdict: 6/10

Good Boys does what it says on the tin; it certainly doesn't break the mold or go above and beyond, but it doesn't need to – it's entertaining, it's relatively short and it's rarely boring. 

Good Boys is in cinemas across Australia now.