STRAYS (15, 93 mins) Comedy/Romance. Will Forte, Brett Gelman, Jade Marie Fernandez and the voices of Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Rob Riggle, Josh Gad, Sofia Vergara, Jamie Demetriou. Director: Josh Greenbaum.
Life's a female dog and the four-legged protagonists of director Josh Greenbaum's boisterous comedy enthusiastically reclaim the B word as they cock legs at political correctness and bark obscenities at a furious rate to rival the expletive-laden scripts of Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee.
Screenwriter Dan Perrault's road trip repeatedly sniffs the hind quarters of bad taste and every time it seems he might retreat from full-blooded filth, he brazenly ramps up the puerility, smearing the screen and many of the cast - on two and four legs - with every conceivable bodily fluid.
Beloved animal movies including The Incredible Journey, A Dog's Purpose and Marley & Me are mercilessly lampooned, delivering a hysterical on-screen cameo for an actor intimately acquainted with the genre and sly vocal casting of a Labrador who dreamily narrates his owner's PG-rated activities.
You can teach old dogs disgusting new tricks and Strays collars huge laughs with its uproarious set pieces including a showdown with an Animal Control officer (Brett Gelman) that might turn the stomach of anyone who buys chocolate from the concessions stand.
The hirsute hero of this gloriously foul-mouthed yarn is an unerringly optimistic Border Terrier named Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), who has the misfortune to be plucked from the litter box by the current girlfriend (Jade Marie Fernandez) of selfish, pot-smoking wastrel Doug (Will Forte).
The human relationship implodes and Doug defiantly clings onto Reggie during an acrimonious break-up to spite his ex.
Left alone with the mutt, Doug routinely mistreats his four-legged companion, who has never known what it means to be truly cherished and constantly makes excuses for his owner's behaviour.
"He loves me so much he doesn't have a job!" chirrups Reggie.
A game of long-distance fetch, designed to permanently remove Reggie from Doug's meaningless life, strands the Border Terrier on mean city streets in the company of a straight-shooting stray Boston Terrier named Bug (Jamie Foxx).
He shares philosophies on the enemy ("Humans trick us into thinking we need them") and opens Reggie's eyes to Doug's habitual cruelty.
Despair quickly festers into snarling rage and Reggie vows to bite off his owner's favourite appendage.
Bug rallies the troops - an Australian Shepherd named Maggie (Isla Fisher), who has been side-lined by her influencer owner for a cute puppy, and a Great Dane named Hunter (Randall Park) - to join an epic odyssey to witness Doug's long overdue day of reckoning.
Strays is a hysterical fever dream replete with forbidden love between one dog and his favourite sofa (alluringly voiced by Sofia Vergara).
Foxx doesn't paws for breath between rapid-fire outbursts, sparking a glorious double-act with straight man Ferrell as their onscreen alter egos run amok and demonstrate how beautiful life can be when you're let off the leash.
RATING: 8/10
