An abandoned dog teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner.
A vulgar comedy about a group of talking dogs probably has a niche audience, although that niche audience does happen to include my partner, who a) loves dogs, and b) loves juvenile humour. If that’s your bag, you’ll like ‘Strays’! That being said I feel that may be doing a disservice to a movie that is a lot smarter than you expect it to be – yes it does have a key scene involving dog poo, but it does also have smart observations about how dogs see their owners, each other and the world, with some particularly well timed gags that I won’t spoil.
‘Strays’ centres on a dog called Reggie (Will Ferrell), a naive Boston Terrier who lives with his waste of space owner Doug (Will Forte), an uncaring and borderline evil man who only kept Reggie to spite his ex. Reggie thinks Doug loves him and tries his best to keep him happy, but in reality Doug is desperately trying to ditch Reggie by driving him far away and leaving him – something poor Reggie thinks is a game. Eventually finding himself driven further and further away, Reggie ends up a stray where he befriends Bug (Jamie Foxx), another stray who takes him under his wings. Teaching him some truths about the world and his owner, this sets Reggie, Bug and a couple of other dogs they befriend off on a journey back to Doug’s to get revenge on him for mistreating Reggie for all these years.
From a technological standpoint it is impressively made, combining real dogs, CGI and practical effects to bring the story to life – essentially a road trip comedy, just with dogs instead of people. I laughed at ‘Strays’ a lot more than I thought I would, but it was the sweetness of the premise that really surprised me. At times it can be quite heartfelt and that provides a neat contrast to some of the crude humour that fills large parts of the movie. So chalk me down as a fan of ‘Strays’ – this animal focused comedy is way better than it had any right to be.
Rating: 4/5
Directed By: Josh Greenbaum
Starring: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Will Forte, Rob Riggle, Sofia Vergara, Josh Gad, Jimmy Tatro, Jamie Demetriou and Dennis Quaid
'I have a purpose. If you think that it's some kind of blessing it's not. It means I have an obligation to see a very specific thing through.' Marty Supreme (2025) 