REVIEW: GOOD BOY

• Director: Viljar Bøe
• Writer: Viljar Bøe
• Stars: Gard Løkke, Katrine Lovise Øpstad Fredriksen

REVIEW

Good Boy is your typical Girl meets Boy, they fall in love and the boy has a pet dog, who happens to be a human dressed in a dog suit… The premise is a pretty wild one but Bøe manages to keep it on the realism side of the fence.

Sigrid (Fredriksen) meets Christian (Løkke) for a date after some light flirting on Tinder. Christian is fastidious and very set in his ways, whilst Sigrid is a touch more free. The first night Sigrid spends at Christian’s house, she discovers Frank the dog. Unsurprisingly weirded out by it, she goes back home, but Christian wants to explain to her what the deal with Frank is. Franks wants to live like a dog, to be looked after like a loved family pet. Christian explains that Frank was abused as a child, and he only had Christian in his life. Christian is a multi-millionaire due to his parents’ untimely death and subsequent inheritance, so Christian can afford to give Frank the life he wants. Sigrid accepts this explanation, but when Frank does something unexpected, Sigrid calls into question the entire situation.

Bøe directs this film very well. No, sweeping camera movements or exaggerated actions, just keeping us at arms reach from Christian and Sigrid until he deems it time to really get a look inside this new relationship and the character’s minds. Christian’s home and how he acts, bring forth comparisons to Bale’s Patrick Bateman, except Christian is far more measured and less fraying at the edges than Bateman. Løkke does a great job with Christian, being able to give the character some nuance. Frederiksen’s Sigrid always looks up in terms of her outlook and mood. Frederiksen really sells that first few weeks of new love but without sacrificing the characters’ intelligence or wits.

Good Boy is longer than it needs to be. The intention is to build up the tension, but it does take some time to really get going. The longer runtime really offered no benefit to the story, I understand what a slowburn film is, but this was unnecessary in this films case.

The direction and acting are very good, and Bøe did well to keep the film from heading into ludicrous territory or to be unintentionally funny. Good Boy avoids those pitfalls and manages to take the film in a direction that is definitely not the most obvious path, with a grim ending that gives you more questions than answers.

GOOD BOY will be released in Theaters, On Digital, and On Demand on September 8th, 2023.

Ryan Morrissey-Smith