Three best friends who call themselves “The Beanbag Boys” just started sixth grade and get caught up in an adventure involving a kissing party, a drone and a sex swing. Sound funny? It is.
In fact, it is hilarious!
The Cast
The cast made this movie great—without question.
12-year-old Jacob Tremblay plays Max, a lovable boy with a teen crush and a heart of gold. Tremblay captures audiences right off the bat with a paradoxical performance filled with child-like innocence and vulgar adult language. As the de facto leader of The Beanbag Boys, Max partakes in a wild and crazy adventure with his best friends Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon).
Lucas is a typical good-doer. Max cares a lot about his friends, but Lucas seems to be the nice guy and the peacemaker of the group. He almost acts as a foil to every other kid in the movie, but he is easy to root for while you watch the film.
Thor loves to sing. He wants to be the bad boy, but when it comes down to it that’s just a lot of big talk. What he really wants to do is get on stage and perform, and he rounds out The Beanbag Boys perfectly.
Soren (Izaac Wang) is definitely a secondary character, but I think I literally laughed at every word that came out of his mouth. His role as the stereotypical popular kid demands viewers’ attention, and he takes advantage of every second he has on screen.
The Plot
Best friends Max, Lucas and Thor are invited to an exclusive junior high kissing party by Soren. The trio of “good boys” then cascades into chaos as they try a variety of things in an attempt to learn how to kiss girls. Their lackluster plans end with them spying on their neighbor Hannah (Molly Gordon) with a drone that she eventually takes hostage.
The friends end up stealing her bag which contains drugs, and thus their frenzied quest begins. Before they can get to the all-important kissing party, the boys lose the drugs that they were going to trade Hannah for their drone and ultimately have to get them back.
Long story short, what unfolds is beyond a child’s wildest imagination and probably a parent’s worst nightmare.
As the comedic absurdity continues, Max, Lucas and Thor finally get to their party where they see Max’s crush Brixlee (Millie Davis). A game of spin the bottle turns into a lesson in friendship, and The Beanbag Boys learn some valuable insight about growing up.
I hesitate to divulge any more of the events that unfold during their adventure. You need to go see them for yourself. If you want some helpful hints, there is a drug deal that goes south, a living room that gets destroyed, a sex doll that is misconstrued for a CPR dummy, kids sipping a beer and a very valuable card from the popular game Ascension that plays an important role (just to name a few).
The Laughs
I’m not someone who normally finds funny movies funny. So believe me when I say this movie is 89 minutes of constant fun. Whether it’s the situational comedy, the relatable scenes of adolescent nervousness or the completely off-the-wall one-liners delivered by the lovable trio of tweens, there is no way anyone could sit through this movie with a straight face.
I remember seeing a promotion for the movie where a producer jokingly tells the child actors that they cannot watch their own movie because it so inappropriate. One of the boys responds with “Why don’t we just make a family-friendly version?” and the producer says “That would be about four seconds long.”
He was right.
The writers thought of everything. Not only did they tap into what movie-goers find humorous, but the script takes viewers back to their own childhood to reflect on crazy adventures and mishaps they probably had with their friends. Sequences of slow-motion scenes with cleverly-selected snippets of music behind them seemed to actually bring the audience together as everyone in the theater felt a unified sense of laughter, happiness and pure enjoyment. Unexpected on-screen moments provided constant excitement and entertainment.
Simply put, “Good Boys” is a good time.
