![]() Those are two folks with strong comedy records, so maybe they’ll deliver. The film is also directed by Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar‘s Josh Greenbaum and was written by Dan Perrault ( Players, American Vandal). Ferrell, for one, is a master of blending adult humor and childhood wonder. However, there is some hope that Strays can find the right balance. That one didn’t turn out too well, and making something more adult simply by cussing and having everyone get high is a recipe for an unfunny movie. With its trailer, Strays easily draws comparisons to Sausage Party, Seth Rogen’s 2016 animated film that attempted to adultize the talking food genre by cursing a lot and making sexual jokes about hot dogs looking like penises. Cussing, drinking, shrooming, and a whole host of other things not normally found in a talking animal movie ensue. However, Reggie wants revenge, so the motley crew of dogs heads to his home to bite Doug’s penis off and teach him a lesson. There Reggie meets a collection of stray dogs including Bug (Foxx), who tells him he’s now a stray and he should start living the good life. Regardless of cinematic deficiencies, The Strays is an upsetting and valiant portrayal of the challenge Black Britons face when it comes to social climbing.In Strays a dog named Reggie (Ferrell) has a terrible owner named Doug (Will Forte), who tries to get rid of him repeatedly but can’t until he drops him off in the middle of a city. What’s more, there are genuinely witty moments. The instigators, Dione (Bukky Bakray) and Carl (Jorden Myrie), are compelling and veritably sinister, with real depth as characters. The characters’ interactions often seem clunky or dissonant (that, or they’re poorly improvised) and the dialogue is repetitive (“What is wrong with you ?” is dramatically overused).ĭespite its obvious shortcomings, The Strays does muster a degree of tension as matters take a dark turn towards the conclusion. It’s as if the writers booted up ScriptBot 3000, set it to Human-Style Conversation Lite and went for a coffee. While the narrative isn’t a bad one and the pacing is decent with a couple of striking reveals packed in, sadly, the script is dreadful. What little exposition is included is heavy-handed: a fly-by classical playlist underpins her new wealthy lifestyle, she and her husband dance in the kitchen to indicate a happy marriage. Whatever the creators’ intentions, this feels less like daringly flying in the face of cinematic convention and more like poor judgement. The characters and themes are established in only the most threadbare manner before dilemmas start tumbling in. This movie’s two major crimes are undercooking its own premises and a pretty rotten script. This, unfortunately, it falls short of achieving. Director Martello-White wanted to explore race and class as important elements of the narrative, emphasising the Black British experience, but also hoped his film would thrill in its own right. She does what she can to conceal her Black identity and encourages her mixed-race children to do the same. ![]() The fear and racial intolerance of her new neighbourhood is well portrayed and aptly shocking, and she plays along, which stings. She actively resists her background’s influences on her life and her family’s. The Strays explores one poignant theme in particular: Neve (née Cheryl) has turned her back not only on her former life, but on her Black culture too. All begins to unravel when significant characters from her past reemerge to haunt her and her new family. Coming to Netflix on 22 nd February, director Nathaniel Martello-White’s new film The Strays tells the tale of a woman, Cheryl-turned-Neve (Ashley Madekwe), who has abandoned her previous life, started afresh with unhindered success (it is unclear how) and is pursuing a cushy, suburban existence instead. But don’t go envisioning a miraculous tale of two halves where the second eclipses the first and redeems the whole to a position of artistic glory: here it just isn’t as bad. ![]() ![]() If motion pictures were critiqued based on their first half alone, this one would have earned itself a panning. ![]()
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