The laughs were good. The material outside of that, not so good.

Upon first seeing the trailer for this earlier this year before it changed release dates, Strays came off repulsive, yet as time grew nearer, the humor didn’t seem as bad, and that is the best way to explain the final product of this.

To start off with the positives, the humor is as about as good as what the trailer conveys, plus a little bit more. The humor is quite shocking and manages to feel acceptable thanks to its voice cast. The end is also quite entertaining, thus allowing for a satisfying conclusion for a rather bleak story.

For negatives, this does not seem fitting for animal lovers. It goes to dark places at times just for the sake of a joke without any real reason that neither services any of the character nor much of the story. It can get more uncomfortable than it needs during these moments that can make the jokes fall flat. The entire opening is also quite weak. It feel more dark than funny during this time and can feel like eternity until the humor actually delivers. The year 2023 desperately wants to relive the glory days of comedies from 10 years ago. The problem going forward is that it all feels like it wants to follow through more on the concept more than the writing.

Overall, this is a questionable mess. The jokes were good when they were good, yet they didn’t always land as it went a little too far at times. The film makes up for it towards the end, yet the material before that when there aren’t any laughs is dry and really begs the question of how a lot of the darker stuff stay on paper.

VERDICT: 2.5/5 (Okay)