If you haven’t seen Barb and Star Take Vista Del Mar then you’re missing some genuine joy from your life. Josh Greenbaum’s newest, Strays, is unexpectedly hilarious, heartwarming, and one of the genuinely funniest movies of the year. However, this shouldn’t be a surprise as Dan Perrault of American Vandal fame wrote this script. His work brings life this live action R rated dog comedy. The biggest question that has to be addressed though is the fact that no animals were hurt in making of this film. And it does briefly support the ideology of ‘adopt don’t shop’.

The film focuses on Reggie (Will Ferrell), who continuously plays a game of ‘fetch and f&ck’ with his owner Doug (Will Forte). That’s until one day, the game gets a little carried away, and Reggie cannot find his way back to Doug. However, what Regie doesn’t realize is that Doug is a terrible owner and moreover a terrible human being. And he only slowly starts to discover this when he meets Bug (Jamie Foxx).

Bug explains to Reggie that he is now a stray, and that Doug is awful. Upon realizing that maybe, in all actuality Doug is actually awful, Reggie and Bug run into other strays, Maggie (Isla Fisher) and Hunter (Randall Park). They decide to help Reggie find his way back to Doug, so he can take away the one thing he’s cares about the most; his penis. The plot may seem far-fetched (no pun intended). But it is genuinely hilarious and packed with laughs and sheer chaotic situations.

The reason why Strays works is largely in part to the voice cast They bring their all and the human actors delivering on all fronts. Isla Fisher, Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, and Randall Park don’t change their voices for the roles. So it’s their chemistry that shines through and brings life to these four-legged friends. They each come from different ways of life (dog life) and have insights that bring these four unlikely friends together. Their voice work truly excels and brings to life a new dimension of sheer chaotic energy to this incredibly over the top silly movie. Meanwhile, alongside Will Forte, Brett Gelman plays Willy, another human. They bring the human characters to the forefront and deliver some great, even though disturbing performances. They round out the cast that brings all the energy and chaos together to create the hilarious final feature.

What both Josh Greenbaum and Dan Perrault understand is that a comedy realistically doesn’t need to be longer than ninety minutes. Sure there are exceptions to the rule. But a tight 90 minutes of sheer unadulterated chaos, and in this case a group of dogs, works incredibly well. The film ensures that it tells its story without dragging at any point. It brings the he laughs constantly and throughout rounding out a truly entertaining final product. Strays boasts a powerful cast that knows how to bring the comedic powerhouses to the forefront. And this create a genuine surprise for the audience.