Strays is a 2023 American comedy film directed by Josh Greenbaum and written by Dan Perrault. It follows an abandoned dog (voiced by Will Ferrell) who teams up with several Strays (voiced by Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher and Randall Park) to get revenge on his abusive owner (Will Forte). The film also stars Harvey Guillén, Rob Riggle, Brett Gelman, Jamie Demetriou, Josh Gad and Sofía Vergara. Strays was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on August 18, 2023. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $36 million.

Plot

Reggie is a naive Border Terrier who lives with his deadbeat owner Doug, who only keeps him around to spite his ex-girlfriend. When Reggie inadvertently destroys Doug's bong, Doug makes several attempts to ditch Reggie, which Reggie views as a game. Losing track of Doug in the city three hours away, Reggie meets a street-wise Boston Terrier named Bug who teaches him how to be a stray after he defends him from a Rottweiler and a Doberman. After a night with Bug and his friends, an Australian Shepherd named Maggie and a therapy Great Dane named Hunter, Reggie finally realizes that Doug does not love him. He decides to get revenge by biting off Doug's penis and the other Strays accompany him for support. However, as Reggie has never been that far from Doug before, they are forced to rely on landmarks he saw, including a 'large hamster ball' (a carnival's ferris wheel), a 'giant cone' (a hill), and 'the Devil in the sky' (a billboard featuring a postman). During the journey, the group bonds as they get into several situations, culminating in getting caught by animal control after a hallucinogenic mushroom-induced high causes them to maul a family of rabbits, which they mistake for plushies. During their captivity, Bug discloses that he used to have a family of his own but was forced to escape when they tried to euthanize him after he bit the daughter (though he fails to see exactly what he did wrong). In an attempt to escape, the dogs plan to use Hunter's erect penis to hook the kennel keys but are unsuccessful. Then in another attempt to escape, Reggie suggests that every dog defecate on the floor at the same time so when the security guard opens it, they can all run out, in which they are successful. After escaping the pound, however, Reggie convinces himself that he is to blame for Doug treating him poorly. This causes Bug to urinate on Reggie's bandana in a fit of anger and Reggie leaves the other Strays. Making their way back to the city, Bug, Maggie and Hunter stumble upon a lost girl scout and alert a search and rescue worker to her location. Reggie returns to Doug's house, and after reminiscing about all the times Doug mistreated him, he finally sees what he was before confronting and cuting ties with him. However, an enraged Doug prevents Reggie from leaving and attempts to kill him while making explicit that he never even once cared about Reggie. The other Strays intervene and, with their help, Reggie successfully bites Doug's penis off. Hunter also defecates in Doug's face, and during the altercation, Doug's house is burned down and his pickup truck is destroyed by a fallen telephone line. After Doug is taken to the hospital, the Strays move on: Hunter returns to being a therapy dog and starts a relationship with Maggie, the latter begins training as a police dog, the Girl Scout adopts Bug and Reggie remains a stray and chooses to guide new Strays, though still often spends time with the other dogs.

Cast

Will Forte as Doug, Reggie's former owner Brett Gelman as Willy, an animal control officer Dan Perrault as Doctor Hagen, a doctor seen in the mid-credits scene Dennis Quaid as a birdwatcher Jade Fernandez as Ashley, Doug's ex-girlfriend

= Voices

= Will Ferrell as Reggie, a Border Terrier Jamie Foxx as Bug, a Boston Terrier Isla Fisher as Maggie, an Australian Shepherd Randall Park as Hunter, a therapy Great Dane Rob Riggle as Rolf, a rude German Shepherd police dog Josh Gad as Gus, a narrative Labrador Retriever Sofía Vergara as an old couch Bug dubs "Dolores", who appears anthropomorphic in the Strays' hallucinogenic mushroom-induced high Jamie Demetriou as Chester, a Bulldog Greta Lee as Bella, a Pomeranian dog Jimmy Tatro as Finn, a Rottweiler Harvey Guillén as Shitstain, a Chihuahua. Jack De Sanz as Munchkin, a Bloodhound Phil Morris as Bubsy David Herman as a dog with an underbite at the animal shelter

Production

In August 2019, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller signed a first-look deal with Universal Pictures. In May 2021, Universal acquired the rights to Strays, an adult comedy about dogs written by Perrault, with Lord and Miller attached to produce alongside Erik Feig and Louis Leterrier. The film is a co-production between Picturestart and Rabbit Hole Productions. Filming began in September 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. Production concluded by December 2021.

Release

Strays was released in the United States on August 18, 2023, after being delayed from its original June 9, 2023 date. It was released on digital platforms on September 5, 2023, followed by DVD and Blu-ray releases on October 10, 2023.

Reception

= Box office

= As of October 19, 2023, Strays has grossed $24 million in the United States and Canada, and $12 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $36 million. In the United States and Canada, Strays was released alongside Blue Beetle, and was initially projected to gross $15–17 million from 3,223 theaters in its opening weekend. After making $3.4 million on its first day (including $1.1 million from Thursday night previews), weekend estimates were lowered to $8.5 million. It went on to debut to $8.3 million, finishing in fourth. The film made $4.9 million in its second weekend (a drop of 40%), finishing in sixth.

= Critical response

= On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 53% of 172 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Crudely effective and effectively crude, Strays is more amusing than hilarious, but this comedy's scattershot humor is partly offset by its surprisingly big heart." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

References

External links

Official website Strays at IMDb