Review: 'Strays' puts R-rated words in the mouths of talking dogs — and that's the only trick it knows

It’s clear from the beginning what “Strays” is trying to do — to spoof heartwarming animal movies, but with the human voices superimposed on dogs saying the most profane things possible. And though it sometimes succeeds in provoking laughs, that doesn’t happen often enough to compensate for all the cringing a viewer will do the rest of the time.

The hero and, for a time, the main narrator of this story is Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), a perky little terrier mutt who thinks his human, Doug (Will Forte), is the best human a dog could have. We, as outside observers, know otherwise — that Doug is a perpetually masturbating stoner who hates dogs, and kept Reggie only because his girlfriend wanted to have the dog during their breakup. Reggie delights in playing fetch with Doug, not realizing that Doug keeps driving further and further from home to ditch Reggie.

When Reggie is left in the big, bad city, he still thinks Doug is just playing fetch with him. It takes a tenacious Boston terrier, named Bug (voiced by Jamie Foxx), to explain to Reggie that he’s been abandoned — and he’s now a stray. Bug proceeds to show Reggie the joys of living independently, like being able to claim anything you pee on. Reggie also meets Bug’s dog-park friends: Hunter (voiced by Randall Park), a Great Dane who continues to wear a cone to calm his nerves, and Maggie (voiced by Isla Fisher), an Australian Shepherd with a bloodhound’s sense of smell.

Reggie, finally realizing how poorly he was treated, resolves to find his way back home with a mission to destroy the thing Doug loves most: His willy. Bug, Hunter and Maggie agree to join Reggie on the road.

So these four dogs are on a quest, like “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey,” if the voice actors were allowed to say words that would make Walt Disney’s ears bleed. The gags target the tropes of the talking-dog genre — like the all-wise “narrator dog” (think “The Art of Racing in the Rain” and others) — or the dog-centered view of the world. (Example: Bug offers his theory on why humans obsessively bag up their dogs’ poop.)

Many of the jokes are about poop or about humping things, and it feels like director Josh Greenbaum (who made the far superior “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar”) and writer Dan Perrault came up with “an R-rated talking dog movie” and thought that was enough.

The weird thing about “Strays” is that the few really good jokes aren’t reliant on poop or penises or profanity, but good solid dog humor — like when Maggie tries to tell a knock-knock joke, but her companions instinctively start barking after the first knock. Those jokes are themselves strays, lost and in need of a good home.

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‘Strays’

★★

Opens Friday, August 18, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use. Running time: 93 minutes.