Will Ferrell comedy ‘Strays’ closes out summer of raunchy comedies as genre bounces back from woke backlash

Will Ferrell’s new comedy "Strays," featuring adorable dogs on an incredible journey, is absolutely not a film for kids.

The R-rated comedy features the voice talents of Ferrell and Jamie Foxx, and features their dog characters swearing and indulging in drugs, violence and sex.

It’s the latest in a string of raunchy comedies that have hit movie theaters this summer, a genre that had been somewhat absent in the past decade or so.

Jennifer Lawrence’s film "No Hard Feelings" kicked things off when it premiered in June. 

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Will Ferrell and Jennifer Lawrence bookend the summer box office with raunchy comedies. (Getty Images)

The film stars the Oscar-winner as a debt-ridden woman about to lose her home who agrees to date a wealthy couple’s sheltered 19-year-old son before he goes off to college to help him "man up" in more ways than one.

The premise of "No Hard Feelings" sparked some controversy over the age gap between the characters and the film’s edgy approach to humor and nudity.

Lawrence addressed the issue in a USA Today interview around the time of the film’s release, saying, "You’re aware that you’re making something that’s so offensive and so wrong. And you have it in your mind like, ‘God, I haven't seen a movie like this in a long time,’ but more, ‘Oh, no. Is this going to be OK?’"

The film’s director, Gene Stupinsky, also spoke about the controversy in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, and addressed the insinuations that the concept was "creepy."

"If you feel that way when you come out of the movie, I would be surprised," Stupinsky told the outlet. "We took great pains to be careful about the ick factor because it could go that way.… We took a humanist approach and I think that’s all you can ask for."

Jennifer Lawrence plays a 30-something woman paid to seduce a 19-year-old in the raunchy comedy "No Hard Feelings." (Sony Pictures)

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Rob Weiner, a popular culture librarian at Texas Tech University, spoke with Fox News Digital about why raunchy comedies click with audiences, despite the edgy nature of their jokes.

"That kind of humor still has a wide appeal and the fact that it might be something ‘transgressive’ makes it that much more attractive," Weiner said. "Some people just want to watch something funny without being given a heavy message about anything." 

Weiner also noted that in more recent releases, "one could see that there are more diverse casts and the humor can come from different cultural backgrounds, but still have that raunchiness to it."

That’s certainly the case with two other female-led raunchy comedies that debuted this summer, "Joy Ride" and "Bottoms."

Sabrina Wu, Ashley Park, Sherry Cola and Stephanie Hsu starred in "Joy Ride," about four Asian American women on a wild road trip in China. (Ed Araquel/Lionsgate)

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"Joy Ride" premiered in July and featured four Asian American women on a road trip in China to help the main character, Audrey (Ashley Park), who had been adopted by a White family in the U.S., find and reconnect with her birth mother.

While family, identity and friendship are at the story’s heart, the movie is riddled with outrageous moments, including drug use, wild sex scenes, and a very NSFW tattoo revealed by some full-frontal nudity. 

"I knew that it would be this raunchy, over-the-top comedy, but then the heart started coming in and I was blown away by how invested I was in these characters and their friendships," Park told The Los Angeles Times earlier this year.

Co-Star Sherry Cola added, "It’s so human, the story that we’re trying to tell, and it happens to also be this wild adventure. We’re tricking people into thinking deeply – with boob jokes."

She continued, "I’m honored that we get to be part of this first-of-its-kind, R-rated film that happens to have Asian faces but will touch so many lives because it’s so universal about friendship and discovering who you are."

Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu, Ashley Park and Sherry Cola in "Joy Ride." Cola said she was "honored" to be part of "this first-of-its-kind, R-rated film that happens to have Asian faces," referring to the film's wild antics. (Ed Araquel/Lionsgate)

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"Bottoms" premiered last week in theaters and stars Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edibiri (who audiences may know best from "The Bear" on FX) as two young lesbians who start a high school fight club to meet girls and attempt to lose their virginity.

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, the film's director and co-writer Emma Seligman said the film was a "a culmination of a lot of different kinds of movies, with young teen female characters I wish I could have seen," and cited films like "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" and the ultra-violent "Kick-Ass" as favorites.

Navigating the raunchy comedy genre can be tricky for creatives though.

As Weiner said, "It’s hard to do that. Blue humor by its very nature is not sensitive and everyone is fair game. One could possibly view it as a form of satire and usually audiences don’t take it seriously."

Ayo Edebiri stars as Josie and Rachel Sennott as PJ in "Bottoms," an Orion Pictures release. (Patti Perret/Orion Pictures)

Doug Eldridge of Achilles PR spoke with Fox News Digital, saying, "I think you’re going to see a continued shift, but this time back in the opposite direction: the audience wants less restriction on the jokes that are told and more freedom to laugh at what they find funny – not what’s determine[d] for them."

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Even with the genre’s return and fresh approaches, it still feels like there are some raunchy comedies from the past that wouldn’t necessarily fly with today’s audiences.

Todd Phillips, who initially made a name for himself directing comedies like "Old School" and "The Hangover," told Vanity Fair in 2019 that he switched to more serious films like "Joker," which earned star Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar for best actor, because it was difficult to continue to make comedy in "woke culture." 

"Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture," Phillips told the outlet. "There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore – I’ll tell you why, because all the f---ing funny guys are like, ‘F--- this s---, because I don’t want to offend you.’"

He continued, "It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter. You just can’t do it, right? So you just go, ‘I’m out.’ I’m out, and you know what? With all my comedies – I think that what comedies, in general, all have in common – is they’re irreverent. So I go, ‘How do I do something irreverent, but f--- comedy? Oh I know, let’s take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head with this.’ And so that’s really where that came from," he said, referring to tackling the "Joker" film.

Todd Phillips, who directed Joaquin Phoenix in "Joker," said he stopped directing comedies because it was difficult to "be funny nowadays with this woke culture." (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for People)

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Weiner pointed to many comedies that are "not politically correct" going back to the ‘70s with "Animal House," the ’80s comedies like "Porky’s" and the ‘90s with "American Pie," to the 2000s and ’10s, with movies like "Superbad," that were box office hits.

But he noted, "There is a concern with objectification, sexism and misogyny," adding, "People can identify with crass characters because they all know someone like that."

Eldridge added, "Today, comedians like Dave Chapelle and Joe Rogan discuss this all the time, they call it the death of comedy – a hyper sensitivity that results in increasing censorship, whether by societal mandate or self-imposed by the comics themselves. The problem is that over time, a gentle razzing was reclassified as malicious, hateful or worse yet: an -ist or -ism. Same jokes, different generation, different reaction."

Some stars have spoken out about their participation in some of the raunchy movies that might not hold up to modern scrutiny. 

Seth Rogen, who served as a producer on "Joy Ride" and worked on or starred in famously raunchy comedies for the past two decades, including "Superbad," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," all of which feature drugs, sex and risqué humor, addressed the issue in 2021 during an interview on "Good Morning Britain."

"There are certain jokes that for sure have not aged well, but I think that’s the nature of comedy," Rogen said. "I think conceptually those movies are sound and I think there’s a reason they’ve lasted as far as people still watching and enjoying them today. Jokes are not things that necessarily are built to last."

Seth Rogen said some jokes "have not aged well, but I think that's the nature of comedy," in a 2021 interview on "Good Morning Britain." (Araya Doheny/Getty Images for Lionsgate)

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He added, "To me when I see comedians complaining about this kind of thing, I don't understand what they're complaining about. If you've made a joke that's aged terribly, accept it. And if you don't think it's aged terribly, then say that."

"American Pie" was a breakaway hit in the late 1990s, and was known for its extreme humor and focus on teens having or trying to have sex, but one of the film’s stars, Seann William Scott, recently said, "You could never make ‘American Pie’ these days."

"Some of the stuff in that movie, you would get arrested and probably go to jail for a long time if you did it," Scott told YouTube channel Jake’s Takes, hosted by Jake Hamilton, in 2022.

Seann William Scott said in an interview "You could never make ‘American Pie’ these days." (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

"I think a lot of broader comedies, a lot of the stuff that gave me a career, I don’t see there ever being an appetite for those sort of movies again," he continued. "I mean, I could be wrong. I think some of the kind of broad comedies can be fun. But people, are, it feels like, myself included, are appreciating a more of a witty, smart humor and good writing as opposed to something over the top."

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Raunchy, sexual humor was a dominating force in 1980s comedies, often aimed at teens, but the creators of the one-time classic "Revenge of the Nerds" expressed concern over how the jokes were approached.

In the film, one of the nerds (Robert Carradine) has sex with a cheerleader (Julia Montgomery) while wearing a mask, disguising his identity and pretending to be her boyfriend. She later is happy with the reveal, but the scene has drawn criticism in recent years.

Julia Montgomery and Robert Carradine in the questionable scene from "Revenge of the Nerds." (20th Century Fox)

For a 2019 oral history of the film in GQ, the film's director Jeff Kanew reflected, "I've heard [criticism] a lot this year because of the #MeToo movement – that's considered a form of rape because it's sex under false pretenses. At the time, it was considered sort of a switch. She doesn't resist and scream and say, ‘My God, get away from me!’ Her first line was, 'You're that nerd, oh, that's wonderful.' That excuses it. But in a way, it's not excusable. If it were my daughter, I probably wouldn't like it."

Carradine, who plays the nerd in the scene, said, "It wasn't until recently that people started to point that scene out and put it in a negative light. It was never our intention to have anything but a funny scene where I get the girl."

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