SXSW with Abe: Good Boys

I’m excited to be attending the film festival at South by Southwest for the second time, and I’ll be posting reviews throughout the week as I see as many movies as possible!

Good Boys
Directed by Gene Stupnitsky
Headliners

Writer Lee Eisenberg and director Gene Stupnitsky discuss the film
There’s a sense in filmmaking that movies should be based on new ideas, and do something that hasn’t been done before in order to be relevant and worthwhile. While that is usually true, and there is an overwhelming amount of fare that feels all too uncreative, it’s also sometimes the case that more of the same is a recipe for tremendous success. In 2007, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote a story that, had it been released a decade earlier, would have starred them, and now they’re back producing a formidable follow-up to “Superbad” that takes a few years off its protagonists’ age to deliver laughs just as big.

Producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg discuss the film
Max (Jacob Tremblay), Thor (Brady Noon), and Lucas (Keith L. Williams) are the Bean Bag Boys, sixth-grade best friends who do everything together. When Max is invited to a kissing party where he hopes to finally kiss the girl he has a crush on, the boys use Max’s dad’s drone to try to spy on their neighbors for tips. When two young women (Molly Gordon and Midori Francis) simply looking to get high take their drone hostage, the three boys must do everything possible to get the drone back before Max’s dad returns home, leading to considerable ill-fated hijinks.

The cast discusses the film
Watching this film with an audience at SXSW was incredibly enjoyable, and seeing the twelve-year-old actors on stage was a true delight. Rogen and Goldberg infuse their typical vulgar humor into every aspect of this film, leading to the three “tween” leads cursing constantly and engaging with objects and concepts hopefully far beyond the comprehension of their young minds. That does make it funnier, adding a dimension to this already humorous and absurd film that includes unexpectedly positive messages about consent and friendship that are rarely found in this kind of project.

Jacob Tremblay discusses the film
Tremblay, who has starred in “Room” and “Wonder” is the best-known of the three actors, and he described his simultaneous excitement and nervousness at doing his first comedy. All three are truly terrific, and though it’s impossible to know where their careers will go when they’re capable of making film decisions without their parents’ permission, they all demonstrate extraordinary comedic talent. Though this film often pushes boundaries, there’s a greater sense of a heartwarming if highly inappropriate story, one that truly takes it to fantastic and hilarious places well worth a visit.

B+