Good Boys (2019)

[Robert Lynch]

Quote

Just call this "Superbad with kids", okay, Hollywood!  It worse when in the wake of Metoo and sexual abuse allegations, they would green light this. While Goonies, Stand By Me, and others have their share of sexual innuendo spoken by kid actors, but this seems rather forced and uncomfortable for these kids. 

Edited May 23, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[Robert Lynch]

Anybody saw this one?

[Dejana]

Haven't seen this, but reviews say the movie has messages about the importance of consent, and the whole general point is that these kids don't actually know much about sex despite their fascination with it. It's apparently more of a story about growing up and growing apart than the trailers have let on.

[jewel21]

I really want to see it, but haven't gotten around to it, yet. It looks hilarious. 

[calliope1975]

I saw it on Friday. It reminded me a lot of Superbad, but updated to now and with tweens. It's raunchy and dumb, and I laughed for a solid 90 minutes so it was a win for me. The main boys were all great actors, and it ended on a bittersweet message about friendship and growing up. Consent was mentioned multiple times, and I loved that.

There were a few kids in front of me who'd clearly snuck in. Guys, you can't sneak into a full theater that has assigned seating. Don't act bewildered when the actual seat holders arrive. However, it was amusing and seemed apropos for the movie I was about to see. 

Edited August 18, 2019 by calliope1975

[Empress1]

On 8/18/2019 at 5:28 PM, calliope1975 said:

The main boys were all great actors, and it ended on a bittersweet message about friendship and growing up. Consent was mentioned multiple times, and I loved that.

Yeah, the sex stuff really wasn't the point - the message was about how kids grow apart. I had a best friend in elementary school and we grew apart in middle school, and then she went to a different high school. (We're in touch now on social media.)  It happens, as your life enters different phases.

The premise is that the boys are invited to their first "kissing party" but they don't know how to kiss, so they set out to see people kissing and madcap adventures ensue. And other sex stuff is mentioned (Thor's parents have a LOT of sex paraphernalia that the kids discover, but they don't actually know what any of it is or does), but it's way less about "tee tee, 12-year-olds talk about sex" than the trailer makes it out to be. It's like Superbad in that they have this long adventure that they go on leading up to a party like the Superbad characters.

Seeing Retta and Lil' Rel as Lucas's parents was a treat. I laughed at how they said outright that that Lucas looked like he was 18. (When I was in middle school there was a boy who was regularly mistaken for a teacher. He had a goatee and everything.) Yet, for all Lucas's physical maturity, he was probably the least mature of the group at that point - wasn't distancing himself from his parents yet, was grossed out by kissing, etc. (His high-pitched screams had me rolling.)

It made me so happy to see Thor embrace the fact that he loved to sing, as someone who loved to sing when I was in school. (I still love to sing!)

Jacob Tremblay is a really good child actor. The last time I saw him was in Room, when he was playing a five-year-old, so it was weird to see him cursing so much in this. 

Edited August 24, 2019 by Empress1

[Schweedie]

On 8/18/2019 at 11:28 PM, calliope1975 said:

I saw it on Friday. It reminded me a lot of Superbad, but updated to now and with tweens. It's raunchy and dumb, and I laughed for a solid 90 minutes so it was a win for me. The main boys were all great actors, and it ended on a bittersweet message about friendship and growing up. Consent was mentioned multiple times, and I loved that.

The bolded completely sums up my feelings. It's been a long time since I laughed this much during a movie. And yeah, it was also a lot sweeter than I expected in the end.

The kid who played Lucas is a friggin' gift.

[Spartan Girl]

Watched it on a HBO free weekend and it was the hardest I’d laughed in a long time. It was also surprisingly sweet.

[lasu]

Y'all are making me think I need to watch this again.  I thought it was deeply unfunny, and to be clear, it was not the raunchiness at all that bothered me.  I was bored.  This is one of a handful of movies I've actually gotten up and walked out of the theater before the movie was over. 

[AngieBee1]

Doesn't hold upon rewatch but when I saw it in the theaters I laughed throughout (once I got past being aghast at what the kids were saying).