History Film / Strays2023

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Doug's ex-girlfriend never appears again after the opening scene, and is only briefly mentioned by Reggie and Doug afterwards. While somewhat justified since she broke up with Doug and wants nothing to do with him, one must wonder why she never made an attempt to get Reggie back or had legal action taken against Doug for stealing her dog.

* CastingGag: In the Japanese dub, Gus is voiced by Creator/WataruTakagi, who previously worked in a dub of a film about [[Literature/ADogsPurpose a dog and his master]]. Likewise, from the same dub, Creator/ToshiyukiMorikawa (Doug) had previous experience on voicing villains [[Anime/Berserk1997 who wants to see]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII the main hero who is finding him really dead]], as well of voicing someone [[spoiler:that involves GroinAttack against someone else, except this time, ''he is in the receiving end of it'', rather that being [[Anime/LegendOfTheBlueWolves the other way around]]]].

---> '''Doug:''' ''(after witnessing [[spoiler:Hunter taking his cone offp])'' [[OhCrap Oh, shit....]]

* FateWorseThanDeath: Doug loses everything he owns (including his drugs and porn) and has permanently lost his penis from being mauled by Reggie.

** Bug has a prejudice towards humans because [[spoiler: they wanted to put him down after he bit his six-year-old owner by accident]].

* {{Jerkass}}: Doug, who is more or less the embodiment of how ''not'' to be a good dog owner. When he first appears, he curses at his dog Reggie and tosses his emptied can of beer at him. He constantly attempts to abandon Reggie, [[spoiler:culminating in trying to ''kill'' the dog in the climax. Fortunately, [[LaserGuidedKarma he gets what's coming to him big time]].]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: Doug not only [[spoiler:gets his dick ripped off by Reggie ([[KickTheDog his almost literal punching bag]]), but he also gets defecated on by Hunter along with having his house, truck, and possessions (drugs and porn) destroyed by the fire started from his nicotine smoker]]. In TheStinger, [[spoiler:although he is treated for his injuries, he is unable to have his dick reattached]].

** Bug acts like Emma's parents attempting to have him euthanized was completely uncalled for and an act of betrayal after months of loyalty to Emma... when he was the one who savagely bit her after she startled him by stepping on his leg. Reggie evens calls Bug out on this when he's reconsidering his revenge on Doug.

* RevengeBeforeReason: When Reggie returns to Doug's house to denounce his loyalty, Doug becomes so pissed that he prevents Reggie from leaving and decides to ''kill'' the dog just to get it over with. [[spoiler:This only gives Reggie the opportunity to mutilate his penis.]]

** Ever seen ''Film/MarleyAndMe''? Doug hasn't, but he assures the other dogs that he knows the ending where the dog dies; Reggie will suffer the same fate.

** Hunter removes his cone right after Doug says, "What the fuck are you gonna do about it, Cone Boy?"
---> '''Doug:''' ''(after witnessing Hunter taking his cone off)'' [[OhCrap Oh, shit....]]

** The rabbit hunting scene. Rather than failing miserably at intentionally trying to hunt a rabbit for food, the dogs, attack ''dozens of rabbits'' thinking they're just lifeless rabbit dog toys while under the influence of mushrooms.
** The gang gets caught and sent to the dog pound and use their wits to escape... by having all the dogs take a shit, so the stink will attract the caretaker and he'll open the door, allowing them all to escape... and knock him right into said feces.
** The dogs help a girl lost in the woods find her family... and unlike the above references, it's actually played almost as heartfelt as in ''Homeward Bound''. Said girl even adopts Bug at the end.

** Hunter [[spoiler: finds consent in his current job assisting the elderly instead of living in the failures of his past. He also finds the courage to stand up to Bubsy and tell Maggie how he feels about her. They now have sex all the time]].

* CastingGag: In the Japanese dub, Gus is voiced by Creator/WataruTakagi, who previously worked in a dub of a film about [[Literature/ADogsPurpose a dog and his master]]. Likewise, from the same dub, Creator/ToshiyukiMorikawa (Doug) had previous experience on voicing villains [[Anime/Berserk1997 who wants to see]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII the main hero who is finding him really dead]].

* CastingGag: In the Japanese dub, Gus is voiced by Creator/WataruTakagi, who previously worked in a dub of a film about [[Literature/ADogsPurpose a dog and his master]].

The film was released in theaters on August 18, 2023. Not to be confused with [[Webcomic/{{Strays}} the webcomic of the same name]] or the [[VideoGame/Stray2022 similarly-named video game released in 2022]], or the [[Film/TheStrays2023 similarly-named psychological horror film also released in 2023]].

--->'''Doug:''' Bad fucking dog!\\
'''Reggie:''' [[PreAsskickingOneLiner You're goddamn right I am!]]

* ShutUpHannibal: Hunter removes his cone right after Doug says, "What the fuck are you gonna do about it, Cone Boy?"
--> '''Doug:''' (''after witnessing Hunter taking his cone off'') [[OhCrap Oh, shit....]]

--->'''Doug:''' Bad fucking dog!
--->'''Reggie:''' You're goddamn right I am!

* {{Jerkass}}: Doug. When he first appears, he curses at his dog Reggie and tosses his emptied can of beer at him. He constantly attempts to abandon Reggie, [[spoiler:culminating in trying to ''kill'' the dog in the climax. Fortunately, [[LaserGuidedKarma he gets what's coming to him big time]].]]

* KidnappingBirdOfPrey: A hawk swoops in during the middle of the movie, snatching Bug up as its prey. Reggie helps free Bug from the hawk's talons, during which the hawk swears at them in hawk language. It's played for laughs during the MushroomSamba scene, where Bug hallucinates the couch he loves mating with seeing someone else: the hawk that nearly ate him earlier, which carries the couch away.

* BrutalBirdOfPrey: A hawk swoops in during the middle of the movie, snatching Bug up as its prey. Reggie helps free Bug from the hawk's talons, during which the hawk swears at them in hawk language. It's played for laughs during the MushroomSamba scene, where Bug hallucinates the couch he loves mating with seeing someone else: the hawk that nearly ate him earlier.

* NiceGirl: Maggie has some serious jealousy and temper issues but is non-the-less incredibly sweet, friendly, supportive, and caring.

* MushroomSamba: At one point, the dogs eat some wild mushrooms and begin to hallucinate each other as animated characters and sock puppets with human arms, [[spoiler:and end up killing a burrow full of rabbits while high]].

The film was released in theatres on August 18, 2023. Not to be confused with [[Webcomic/{{Strays}} the webcomic of the same name]] or the [[VideoGame/Stray2022 similarly-named video game released in 2022]], or the [[Film/TheStrays2023 similarly-named psychological horror film also released in 2023]].

-->'''Reggie:''' Goodbye, Doug. And fuck you.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Once the dogs come down from their mushroom-induced high, they are all horrified to realise that they [[spoiler:brutally murdered several rabbits]].

* RuderAndCruder: To [[Film/HomewardBoundTheIncredibleJourney Homeward Bound]]-type adventure movies.... very ''very'' much so!

* ShoutOut: There are several digs at ''Film/ADogsPurpose''.
** The presence of a narrator dog who helps his human meet a girl at an amusement park is as overt as it gets, right down to said dog being voiced by Creator/JoshGad.
** Creator/DennisQuaid, who played Ethan in ''A Dog's Purpose'' and its sequel makes a cameo appearance as himself.
** Reggie says that to make a human happy is "a dog's purpose", paraphrasing the last line of the film. Bug replies that he's full of shit.

** Bug has a prejudice towards humans because [[spoiler: they wanted to put him down after he bit his six-year-old owner by accident]]. Maggie has some serious jealousy and temperamental issues due to the fact that her more glamorous owners show more love to the smaller and cuter dogs.

* FreudianExcuse: Reggie views himself in a negative light because he thought he couldn't be what a "good boy" should be for his emotionally abusive and neglectful owner. Bug has a prejudice towards humans because [[spoiler: they wanted to put him down after he bit his six-year-old owner by accident]]. Maggie has some serious jealousy and temperamental issues due to the fact that her more glamorous owners show more love to the smaller and cuter dogs, and Hunter's low resilience and lack of confidence in himself come from the fact that he didn't pass his police academy training and therefore no human gave him a chance to be part of the police squad, which was the thing he was always trained to do.

* CallingTheOldManOut: When Reggie finally returns home, he finds Doug and - having an epiphany about his owner not loving him at all - calls him out for abusing him and says that he has new friends who love him.

* FreudianExcuse: Reggie views himself in a negative light because he thought he couldn't be what a "good boy" should be for his emotionally abusive and neglectful owner, Bug has a prejudice towards humans because [[spoiler: they wanted to put him down after he bit his six year old owner by accident]], Maggie has some serious jealousy and temperamental issues due to the fact that her more glamorous owners show more love to the smaller and more cuter dogs, and Hunter's low-resilience and lack of confidence in himself comes from the fact that he didn't pass his police academy training and therefore no human gave him a chance to be part of the police squad which was the thing he was always trained to do.

* MrViceGuy: Bug is a foul-mouthed dog who starts the film with some prejudice towards humans but other than that he is a rather loyal and friendly dog who befriends Reggie immediately and is quite caring towards his other friends, Hunter and Maggie.

** The dogs help a girl lost in the woods find her family...and unlike the above references, it's actually played almost as heartfelt as in ''Homeward Bound''. Said girl even adopts Bug at the end.

** Hunter [[spoiler: finds content in his current job assisting the elderly instead of living in the failures of his past. He also finds the courage to stand up to Bubsy and tell Maggie how he feels about her. They now have sex all the time]].

** Reggie [[spoiler: gains a new owner and has changed his stance on people.]]

** Reggie [[spoiler: no longer looks down on himself since he has no relationship with Doug anymore]].

** Hunter [[spoiler: stays in his job role assisting the elderly and learns to cope with it instead of look down on himself because of something that happened in his past. He also finds the courage to stand up to Bubsy and tell Maggie how he feels about her. They now have sex all the time]].

** Reggie [[spoiler: gains a new owner and has changed his stance on people.