Strays review: Will Ferrell’s canine caper is sick, filthy & very funny

Strays finds Will Ferrell voicing a dog on a mission: to bite off his owner’s penis. He’s aided and abetted by three foul-mouthed canines, and the result is a comedy that’s as rude – and hilarious – as that concept suggests.

Disney made a mint crafting ‘Incredible Journey’ movies. The 1960s version saw dogs – and a cat – travel cross-country to find their way home, and played like a nature documentary. A 1990s remake dropped the good-natured narration, and gave the animals voices. While a 1996 sequel substituted countryside for the big city.

Strays takes elements from all those movies, but couldn’t be less Disney. Instead, it’s consistently crude and lewd as the dogs in question shag and swear their way through fields and towns on a quest to get one of their canines home.

But Reggie the Border Terrier isn’t making this incredible journey because he misses owner Doug. No, Reggie has only one objective on his mind: to separate Doug from his phallus. And the resulting quest is hilarious, from a shocking start to disgraceful finish.

Doug hates dogs

As voiced by Will Ferrell, Reggie is an upbeat and optimistic pooch who narrates proceedings as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. Indeed the only thing Reggie loves more than life, is Doug (Will Forte).

However, unbeknownst to the dopey doggo, Doug hates Reggie. An unemployed stoner who spends the bulk of his days masturbating, Doug resents, neglects, and bullies his hound. But worse than that, Doug never tells Reggie that he’s a good boy.

The day that Reg breaks Doug’s bong is the final straw, causing owner to drive pet three hours away from his home – to the dodgy part of another town – and leave him there. Which is when Reggie’s adventure begins.

Meet Bug

At first the innocent Border Terrier thinks it’s a game. But he’s told the truth by streetwise Border Terrier Bug, voiced by Jamie Foxx.

Bug saves Reggie from a pair of dangerous dogs, guides him away from Afghan Hound sex workers, and teaches him the rules of the street. Which involve peeing on anything you want, and having sex with whoever – and whatever – you desire. As Bug poetically puts it, “The world is like a buffet for your tiny dog dick.”

And penis is very much on the menu for Reggie, because when he sees the light regarding his owner, Reg makes a vow. “I’m going back to Doug’s, and I’m gonna bite off his dick.”

Meet the rest of the Strays

Reggie isn’t em-barking on this quest alone, however, as Bug has more stray buddies in need of some fun. There’s Great Dane Hunter, voiced by Randall Park, who very nearly became a police dog, and now works in therapy. Hunter lacks confidence, hates confrontation, and loves Maggie.

Who in turn is an Australian Shepherd, voiced by Isla Fisher. Maggie has issues of her own, however, having recently been replaced in her owner’s affections by a cute puppy. Maggie says she’s fine with this hierarchical shift, but really isn’t, her sadness turning into a digging addiction.

So from a toxic relationship and sex addiction to low self-esteem and depression, the Strays each have their own struggle. Which come to the fore as their pursuit of that penis progresses.

R-rated comedy

This more serious material gives Strays some substance, with each canine having a carefully constructed arc. But that weighty stuff doesn’t come at the expense of the dumb. And Strays is filled with dumb jokes.

First up is Scraps Night, which seems to involve eating pizza, drinking beer, and simply “f*cking sh*t up.” Followed by a lengthy drug sequence that sees the dogs munching mushrooms, getting high, and having insane hallucinations. Director Josh Greenbaum coordinates these complex sequences with skill, so you never doubt these are real dogs doing real things onscreen.

Strays is also as R-rated as comedy gets – think Ted on foul-mouthed steroids. Sex features in most scenes, thought it usually involves inanimate objects, like a couch voiced by Sophia Vergara. While cursing is in all of them, with Strays very possibly the sweariest movie ever made.

The size of Hunter’s knob is the butt of multiple jokes, while at the same time briefly powering the plot. And there’s every kind of poop joke you can imagine; some funny, some rancid. Meaning Strays should very much be avoided by those who are easily offended.

The Verdict – Is Strays good?

Strays is a tight 90-minutes that gets in – tells a bunch of dirty jokes – then gets out. But the brilliance of Dan Perrault’s script is that it’s also filled with heart, so that you actually really care about these animals come the end of the movie.

And while the message of the movie occasionally becomes confused (as there seems to be about three of them), Perrault even manages to smuggle in some serious points, about trauma caused by fireworks, and about whether dogs are here to make humans happy, or vice-versa.

But have no fear, Strays never becomes preachy, as Reg and co. are quickly onto the next joke, which in turn gets us closer to the big bite at the end. And mercifully, the climax delivers, with Will Forte delivering a jaw-dropping comedic performance as dick meets destiny.

Will Ferrell is also perfectly cast as the protagonist pooch, his sweet naivety a delightful throwback to Buddy the Elf. While Jamie Foxx steals the entire movie, his Bug a weird little freak who needs his own spin-off now.

Strays review score: 4/5

Strays absolutely delivers on the promise of its premise, and the result is a canine caper that’s sick, sweet, and very funny.

Strays hits cinemas on August 18. Find out more about the movie here.