Good Boys

Gene Stupnitsky’s debut feature follows the misadventures of a trio of foul-mouthed sixth-graders preparing to attend their first “kissing party.” Co-produced by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg, this is clearly aimed at the same audience that loved both Superbad and Booksmart. But, while it panders to that demo, the three leads—headed up by now-12-year-old Jacob Tremblay (Room, Wonder, Doctor Sleep) sell the material quite effectively. Especially impressive is how convincingly they put across jokes based on their characters' naivete. About half the humor in this picture is based around the boys' lack of life experience and their many false assumptions about how things work. Amazingly, nearly all these jokes (of which many should fall flat) land and engender laughs and even guffaws, which is all you really need from a picture like this. The movie has no coming-of-age depth to make it special or significant, but that also keeps it from being saccharine or pretentious. Good Boys sets a low bar for itself and scales it with ease.