Good Boys (Dir Gene Stupnitsky, 1h 28m)

  

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Good Boys, is that, despite its pedigree, from the minds of the people who inflicted the abomination that is Sausage Party upon the world, and helmed by one of the writers for the American incarnation of The Office, it's actually good. Doubly impressive is the fact that it does this despite being, for all intents another Rogen/Apatow-style frat-comedy, albeit with 12 year olds rather than the fully grown men of SuperBad, Pinapple Express etc, and a greater part of this is down to a well-cast group of talented young actors, a surprisingly tender story under its purile exterior, and an overall sense that kids are a lot cruder, smarter, and more caring than the world may often give them credit for.

Our central heroes are the Bean Bag Boys. This trio is headed by sixth grader Max (Jacob Tremblay, best known from his performance in the psychological thriller, Room)  whose loss of his father's drone in the back yard of his female neighbour, and subsequent quest to buy a new one drives much of the plot. Along, are his two close friends, Thor(Brady Noon), whose attempts to look cool in front of his peers drives him away from his passion for singing and towards increasingly risky activity, whilst Lucas (Keith L. Williams), the nerdiest and more reserved of the group, finds himself distracted and distant by the background divorce of his parents.

Part of the comedy, unquestionably, is the scrapes our juvenile heroes get themselves into, from the intial scene involving the drone, used to peep on their female neighbours in order to uncover the mysteries of "how to kiss", a burning question that sees the boys run the gamut of porn to sex doll to spying on their neighbours, to a genuinely nervewracking scene crossing a twelve lane highway, and causing chaos along the way, to the comedic highpoint of the film in which tween frat comedy meets frat-frat comedy, as our plucky trio practically destroy an entire fraternity house in the quest to get drugs to swap for a replacement drone from the two female neighbours who play adversary for much of the film.

Alongside them, as the nearest this film has to a villain, aside from an ever-nearing deadline as Max's father, the owner of the drone, returns home from a work trip, is Soren, and a gang of equally overly mature 12 years. Soren, without a doubt, is the funniest thing about this film, for the pure reason that he plays everything as though he's a mid 20s gang-leader, rather than a 12-year-old. He is one, in short, of the most unintentionally cinematically cool kids since the Power-Glove wielding Lucas in the Nintendo-worshipping film, The Wizard. Indeed, the interactions between these remarkably versatile child actors, be they friendly or dysfunctional, are a perfect blend between funny, emotionally resonant, and verité.

And it is this that is the other great comedic asset to this film, as well as where much of its heart lies-rarely before have twelve years old in cinema felt this real, this fleshed out, this human-it's almost de rigueur, to use that old phrase, that children and animals are the worst part of otherwise good films-to make them centre stage is risky, but pays off dividend here. One gets the full gamut of what it means to be twelve years old, unpopular, falling in love for the first time, and most importantly, just to be a child in modern America. This it does with nigh perfect pathos-our heroes are foul mouthed, but sweet, geeky, but also violent and obsessed with their prestige among their classmates.

Where the film is less successful is in its more outlandish escapades, chief of which is a genuinely bizarre cameo from British comedian Stephen Merchant, which feels, for a cast of relative unknowns like a marque name too far, though his reappearance later in the film brings one of the funniest, and most gross-out, moments of the film. The film's extended coda, after our heroes' quest comes to an end is overlong, and the tone of the film becomes occasionally misogynistic, particularly in the case of the main two female characters, in scenes that do somewhat try the patience of anyone not overly fond of fratboy humour

Yet, despite these flaws, despite the toilet humour, teenage antics, despite this film's creators' past work, it is the friendship of the Bean Bag Boys, their interactions, their differing characters butting up against each other that truly forms the emotional and comedic centre of this film. There are multiple scenes that capture the pain and fun and fragile bravado of being twelve years old and getting drunk, kissing, sneaking out for the first time, and the friendships, and romantic relationships that are forged, continued and broken in these years.

Our heroes go from pop-culture riffing to slapstick goofs to simply enjoyably gross-out humour, and back again in the space of a scene, and when we part with them at the end of the film, it truly feels like we have grown to enjoy being in this trio's prescence and seen them grow as characters. Whilst Eigth Grade, released to acclaim last year, pulled back the covers and laid bare what it like to be an fourteen year old girl, Good Boys perfectly encapsulates, in all its evocative, purile, tweenage, hormonal glory, what it means to be a boy of twelve in the late 2010s.

Rating: Recommended.