‘Strays’: No Movie Has Ever Been This Obsessed With Dog Poo—or Stank Like It

There’s a long history of live-action films featuring talking animals, and the vast majority of them are for kids. Strays, on the other hand, presupposes that adults feel left out and want one for themselves, and thus delivers pooch comedy of an R-rated variety. Alas, any grown-up’s desire for such material will be swiftly neutered by Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar director Josh Greenbaum’s latest (in theaters Aug. 18), which despite boasting the participation of genuinely funny people like Will Ferrell, Jaime Foxx, Isla Fisher, and Randall Park is a mirthless mutt of a movie.

Strays’ conceit is that its anthropomorphic dogs curse, speak profanely about sex, and defecate and urinate on all sorts of things—including themselves. Its prime potty mouth is Bug (Foxx), a Boston terrier who resides on the streets and lives by three rules: if you want something, pee on it; if you desire something, hump it; and without a master, you’re on your own.

Bug is a champion of uninhibited freedom, although as voiced by Foxx he’s mostly just an irreverent tough guy who thinks it’s hilarious to drop the F-bomb in every single sentence. While well-timed and inventive cursing can certainly be amusing, Dan Perrault’s dismal script uses it as a crutch to amplify the action’s naughtiness quotient and, as is soon painfully apparent, to compensate for an absence of actual wit.

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