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 dog 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 ferris wheel), a 'giant cone' (a hill), and 'the Devil in the sky' (a picture of a postman on a billboard).
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 admits 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. He confronts and cuts 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 mouth, and during the altercation, Doug's house and pickup truck are burned down. Doug is taken to a hospital, where he went to surgery. Afterwards, 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.
Strays was released in the United States on August 18, 2023, after being delayed from its original June 9, 2023 date.[14][15] It was released on digital platforms on September 5, 2023, followed by DVD and Blu-ray releases on October 10, 2023.[16]
Reception
Box office
As of October 19, 2023[update], Strays has grossed $24 million in the United States and Canada, and $12 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $36 million.[3][4]
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.[2] 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.[17][18] The film made $4.9 million in its second weekend (a drop of 40%), finishing in sixth.[19]
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."[20]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.[21] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[17]
