‘Strays’ Review: A Raunchy Comedy Goes to the Dogs

The King James Bible is loaded with memorable analogies, and one of the vital vivid is from Proverbs: “As a dog returneth to its vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” It’s true — a canine will try this. A canine may additionally pattern the vomit of one other canine, as is depicted in one of many many intestinal, fecal and urinal gags served up within the relentlessly raunchy comedy “Strays.”

Directed by Josh Greenbaum from a script by Dan Perrault, “Strays” tells the story of Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), a winsome mutt who’s deserted by his proprietor, the depressing, porn-addict stoner Doug (Will Forte).

Alone in an alley, Reggie will get the come-on from some attractive Afghan hounds. How does prostitution work in unsupervised canine society? It is rarely defined, simply because it’s by no means defined why the animals converse to one another in English whereas not understanding the English spoken by the people. The film makes use of a mixture of stay motion and pc animation, however world-building was not fairly a precedence right here.

Once Reggie meets the street-smart Boston terrier Bug (Jamie Foxx) and realizes the extent to which Doug hated him, he resolves to seek out the person and chunk off one in every of his most beloved extremities. In this quest, the brand new pals are joined by two domesticated canine: Hunter (Randall Park), a timid Great Dane, and Maggie (Isla Fisher), a chic however earthy Australian Shepherd.

Over the subsequent 90-plus minutes, the canines drop as many F-bombs as Pacino did in “Scarface.” Then there are the scatological jokes, every another outlandish than the final, none bearing the slightest tinge of wit or pleasure. (The factor about John Waters’s excessive underground comedies is that they’d, , enthusiasm.) Granted, a scene right here that takes intention on the conference of the “narrator dog” does produce a curdled giggle, however it does so on its approach to a very nihilistic punchline.

And but as that proverb warns, one sadly can’t rule out a sequel.

Strays
Rated R for relentless language, crude humor and gore. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters.