Checked out a new little flick called The Stray. I went in blind having seen no trailers or ads… I figured with a name like that, 50% chance it was a horror movie about a rabid dog (who probably dies at the end) and 50% chance it was a heart-warming movie about a lovable family dog (who probably dies at the end).
As it turns out, it was a family movie… but a particularly inept one. Total amateur hour but also totally earnest. The acting is bad, the editing is bad, the humor is perplexing, the writing is awkward, people do and say odd things, and I was fascinated by every minute of it. So I can’t hate it, I can just admire its effort, acknowledge the movie means well, and marvel at how odd it is.
The movie doesn’t seem to be about what it seems to be about. It’s not really about a dog, even though there is a stray dog in it and it’s called The Stray. This dog movie’s dog is often an afterthought. I suspect this is also meant to be a faith-based movie but in such a low-key way, you might miss it. It does suggest prayer a number of times, the family is wholesome, and it has the “feel” of a low-budget, scrambled together faith-based film… but there’s no proselytizing, no one ever visits a church, and no one has a crisis of faith. So I’m not sure if the dog or the low-key religion is just a marketing ploy to get a certain audience… or if the script was just tossed into a mixer and this is what we get.
Anyhow, this is apparently true story of some low-key things that happened to the family who wrote and directed the film. Up-and-coming Hollywood executive has no time for his family which creates marital strife. They find a stray dog. The oldest boy hates his dad for not coming to his games. Then they decide to move to Montana in order to get their family right. The dad decides to borrow some neighborhood kids and take his boy out for a hike in the mountains.
At which point they get struck by lightning.
And that’s basically it. In order to explain the weird plot points would go into spoilers (for a movie you probably won’t see). I’ll say this much… the dog does die in the end as per the requirement of dog movies. But, despite what you’d think, it’s kind of a low-key event even though they pay lip-service to how the dog saved their family (hint: it didn’t…).
So, yeah, a family-friendly supposed-dog-movie that’s more about a family trying to pull itself together that barely features the dog. It might have a faith-based marketing angle but really doesn’t qualify for that label either. And then a disaster strikes that, sure, is important to the family but hardly seems like movie material. But, hey, I give credit to the family for pulling together the money, resources, and the dog to make this flick and get it into theaters. They are clearly not professionals and it’s cynical of me to champion their movie for its oddness… but I did. I also champion it’s total earnest conviction. There isn’t a cynical bone in the movie’s body.
Score: 74