Tawdry antics of badly-behaved barkers has early comedy bite

A new movie featuring antics of badly-behaved dogs starts stronger than any screen comedy I can recall in the past five years, writes Leigh Paatsch.

Strays (MA15+)

Director: Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar)

Starring: the voices of Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park

Rating: Three stars

Colourful canines go fetch the punchlines

If you have briefly glimpsed any advance marketing for the new comedy Strays, then you will know full well what you are in for: a quartet of dirty-talkin’ dogs, making statements and performing acts that are not in keeping with the usual high standards of movie mutts.

So there is only one pressing issue that needs to be addressed here.

Bug (Jamie Foxx) and Reggie (Will Ferrell) in Strays.

Is Strays funny? Yes, indeed it is. In fact, the movie starts stronger than any screen comedy I can recall in the past five years or so, with an exceptionally high rate of big laughs landed.

However, as undeniably amusing as Strays proves to be on occasion, there can also be no denying that the movie does find it hard to sustain its humorous momentum all the way to the end.

The problem is one of simple mathematics: there are only so many jokes that can be crafted from the tawdry antics of badly-behaved barkers.

Yes, they go to the toilet in the open air a lot. And yes, they do tend to, umm, express their sexuality quite freely. Both with each other, and inanimate objects. Again, in the open air.

They detest cats. They have a pathological hate of any employee of a postal service. They continually eat many things that should not be eaten, and are often seen to be sniffing around places which should not be sniffed.

All in all, there are about 20 good gags that can be cracked from this material, and Strays nails every single one of them. In the first 20 minutes. Which means it has to tell ’em all over again. And again. Though the movie never outstays its welcome, its ability to make good with the mirth diminishes noticeably by the one-hour mark.

Strays’ potty-mouthed pooches, Bug (Jamie Foxx), Reggie (Will Ferrell), Maggie (Isla Fisher) and Hunter (Randall Park).

Nevertheless, when Strays is at its most endearingly appalling, you just can’t help but fall for its star foursome of potty-mouthed pooches, voiced most vividly by Will Ferrell (as the naive border terrier Reggie), Isla Fisher (the Australian farm dog Maggie), Randall Park (the goofy Great Dane Hunter) and Jamie Foxx (the movie’s MVP, the belligerent Boston terrier Bug).

Strays is in cinemas now

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (M)

Three stars

General release

The huge box-office success and subsequent universal derision generated by the Twilight franchise pretty much drove a stake through the heart of all vampire movies.

So you just have to tip your hat to this brave attempt at bringing back a real Drac to restore some gore and order to the genre.

Dracula in The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a throwback to the silent-era Drac with the bald head and the bad temper.

Oddly, The Last Voyage of the Demeter does so by working up a whole movie from a few pages of basic business buried away inside author Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel from 1897 (chapter seven, in case you’re wondering).

This is the story of how the ickily immortal Count made his way from Eastern Europe to England so that he could really get busy with the nefarious neck-nibbling that makes his reputation. However, back on the high seas, it turns out our antihero sneakily snuck aboard a Russian clipper ship and casually terrified the passengers and crew with the occasional night-time stroll up on deck. He’s not the most good-looking or charming Dracula you’ve ever seen, either (this one is a throwback to the silent-era Drac with the bald head and the bad temper).

Liam Cunningham, Chris Walley and Corey Hawkins in The Last Voyage of the Demeter.

As this well-made movie is essentially an effective exercise in mood management, we are made to wait until the real star of the show makes his unpleasant presence felt. Therefore some modern horror fans will feel everything is happening way too sluggishly for their hurry-up-already tastes. Traditionalists, however, will dig the slow and scenic route navigated here. Stars Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi.

Gran Turismo

Two-and-a-half stars

General release

This based-on-a-true(ish)-story affair instantly welds itself to the console of every gamer boy’s imagination by asking one heck of an attention-getting question. What would happen if you were considered to be so great at Sony PlayStation’s legendary race car simulation game Gran Turismo that you were invited to drive in real races?

A decade ago, a teenage Turismo master from the Welsh city of Cardiff got to find out the answer. Somewhat miraculously, Jann Mardenborough (played by Archie Madekwe) made the massive leap from twitching away at a hi-res monitor to gripping the wheel of a car reaching speeds of more than 300km/h.

Archie Madekwe stars in Gran Turismo. Picture: Gordon Timpen

If this movie leaves any kind of worthwhile impression, it is that it does convey the magnitude of Mardenborough’s landmark achievement. Oh, and the racing sequences (both in the real world and within the PlayStation environment) are genuinely thrilling.

However, when the movie must throttle down to address matters such as credible storytelling and gradual character development, the engine powering the whole exercise starts coughing, spluttering and emitting some very pungent fumes.

Co-stars David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Geri Halliwell.

Originally published as Tawdry antics of badly-behaved barkers has early comedy bite