**This article was originally posted to Northeastern Illinois University’s The Independent**
The Young and The Restless
‘Good Boys’ is a tale about endings. The beauty and tragedy of life is that it is finite, and someday it will end for us all; unless we can become robots. I’m not entirely sold on becoming a cyborg, but I am willing to consider it. My own grappling with mortality aside, the central theme of ‘Good Boys’ is the end of innocence. As a child, we have very little agency in the life we lead. We are told when to go to school, when to go to sleep, and so on. ‘Good Boys’ is a snapshot into the moment where a trio of young friends realize that they do indeed have agency in the life they are set to lead. Plus, a whole boatload of dick jokes.
One thing needs to be clear. Just because ‘Good Boys’ is a story about kids doesn’t mean it’s a story for kids. There is a lot of crude material here, and if you were to take your kids to see it, even the most open parent-child relationships would have to suffer through an awkward conversation after. To put it simply, “Good Boys’ is ‘Super Bad’ set in middle school. Despite that easy to make comparison, the film stands alone due to its three leads.
Max (played by Rooms’ Jacob Tremblay), Thor (Brady Noon), and Lucas (Keith L. Williams) are the highlights of the film, with Lucas being particularly uproarious. Each goes through the struggles of growing up. Max is the most hormonal of the trio and is dead set on going to his first kissing party. Thor dreams of a life of musical theater but must deal with a social hierarchy where extracurricular activities are not cool. And Lucas just wants to live in a world where it is acceptable to be best friends with your mom. Unfortunately for the unironically self-dubbed Beanbag Boys, their goals seem to no longer coalesce.
The MacGuffin of the film is Max’s dad’s drone, which is captured when the boys attempt to spy on Max’s teen neighbor so they can learn how to kiss. It is precisely these kinds of situations that drive the funniest moments of ‘Good Boys.’ Watching how naive, ignorant, and misinformed the boys are is quite frankly hilarious and charming to see. Watching them bungle their way from one misadventure to the next never got tiring, and there was healthy laughter throughout the film. The scene involving a frat house was a real delight that I won’t spoil here.
The film doesn’t only get by on laughs as it has a lot of heart as well. The Beanbag Boys each end this particular journey in a different and a more emotionally fulfilling place than where they began. There is also a feeling of melancholy throughout the film, as we, the audience, know that nothing gold can stay. More than likely, the day will come where the Beanbag Boys grow apart. While growing up isn’t a bad thing, it can be sad to lose the hallmarks of youth. Despite that, the film suggests that just because something is “doomed” to end doesn’t diminish what it meant to you at the time.
‘Good Boys’ is a wickedly funny and witty film that emotionally resonates with its audience. It doesn’t recreate the wheel in any respect, but thanks to its charismatic leads and imaginative writing, it stands a cut above another coming of age films.
I award Good Boys 12 Potatoes on the Sipps Potato Scale.
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