Good Boys (film)

Good Boys is a 2019 American comedy film co-written and directed by Gene Stupnitsky, in his directorial debut. The film stars Jacob Tremblay, Brady Noon, and Keith L. Williams. It tells the story about three sixth graders who try to impress girls and upperclassmen by skipping school and attending parties. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg serve as producers through their Point Grey Pictures banner.

The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 11, 2019, and is scheduled to be released in the United States on August 16, 2019, by Universal Pictures. As of May 2019, the film has received generally positive reviews.

Plot
""After being invited to his first kissing party, 12 year-old Max (Jacob Tremblay) is panicking because he does not know how to kiss. Eager for some pointers, Max and his best friends, Thor (Brady Moor) and Lucas (Keith L. Williams), decide to use Max's dad's drone, which they are forbidden to touch, to spy on a teenage couple who are making out. But when things go ridiculously wrong, the drone is confiscated. Desperate to get it back before Max's dad gets home, the boys skip school and set off an odyssey of epically bad decisions involving some accidentally stolen drugs, frat-house paintball, and running from both the cops and terrifying teenage girls.""

Cast

 * Jacob Tremblay as Max
 * Brady Noon as Thor
 * Keith L. Williams as Lucas
 * Will Forte as Max's dad
 * Molly Gordon as Hannah
 * Midori Francis as Lilly
 * Josh Caras as Benji
 * Christian Darrel Scott as Marcus
 * Lil Rel Howery as Lucas's dad
 * Sam Richardson
 * Retta as Lucas' Mom
 * Millie Davis as Brixlee
 * Chance Hurtsfield as Atticus
 * Izaac Wang as Soren
 * Benita Ha as Soren's Mom

Production
On August 16, 2017, it was announced that Seth Rogen's Point Grey Pictures and Good Universe would produce a comedy film together from writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, and both would also make their directorial debut. The film was produced by Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Nathan Kahane, and Joe Drake. In March 2018, Jacob Tremblay was cast in the film titled Good Boys, to which Universal Pictures bought the distribution rights.

The film was shot in Vancouver.

The film received an R rating for strong crude sexual content, drug and alcohol material, and language - all involving tweens. This marks the first time an R rating has been given with the description  'all involving tweens'.

Blackface controversy
Controversy over the making of the film aroused when TMZ leaked photos of Keith L. Williams' stand-in substitute in blackface. Both Williams and his stand-in are African-American, but the latter is light-skinned. Rogen issued an apology over the controversy.

Release
It had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 11, 2019. Good Boys is scheduled to be released on August 16, 2019 by Universal Pictures.

Critical response
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 78% based on 23 reviews, and an average rating of 6.91/10. On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 52 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".