Strays review: Will Ferrell's dog comedy just chases its tail
Jamie Foxx and Will Forte fetch some laughs as foul-mouthed pups, but mostly this dog just rolls over and plays dead

Strays feels an awful lot like a movie written on a dare. Screenwriter Dan Perrault, of American Vandal acclaim, seems to be working with the kind of premise that could have been conceived in a late-night haze of juvenile giggling: what if those overly sentimental dog movies that teach profound lessons from a canine viewpoint were instead full of swearing and poop gags? But rather than unleashing jokes that practically write themselves, and despite a seasoned cast of comedy stalwarts, the punchlines here are kept on a short lead.
When Border Terrier Reggie (Will Ferrell) is left by his abusive owner Doug (Will Forte) in the big city after a game of fetch three hour’s drive from home, the little guy still has hope that he can bring his ball back and win Doug’s love. However, a street-smart Boston Terrier stray named Bug (Jamie Foxx) bursts that bubble, breaking the news that Doug has abandoned Reggie, then offers to teach him the ropes of living without human affection. Accompanied by a smart Australian Shepherd named Maggie (Isla Fisher) and a be-coned Great Dane named Hunter (Randall Park), Reggie and Bug party it up in the city until Reggie arrives at a plan for the ultimate revenge: biting off Doug’s beloved penis.
This sets off a road trip story with the usual beats reinterpreted through the lens of puppy hijinks. A visit to a carnival goes apocalyptic as fireworks start going off. A patch of mushrooms triggers a surreal set of hyperactive hallucinations. A trip to the pound culminates in a red-rocketing shit-slipping escape. It’s admittedly fun to see these stoner comedy pastiches translated through the naiveté and shamelessness of dogs, even if the dogs have a somewhat inconsistent understanding of human culture. (Cleaning up poop is a confusing concept, but they know who Hitler is?) And Reggie’s coming to terms with his abusive relationship with Doug is an effective emotional throughline that works independent of the comedy, giving the film more reason to exist than just to deliver puppy punch lines.