The Strays review.
Now on Netflix, The Strays puts its lead character in a unique position. As her past comes back to haunt her…she’s not given the easy out of not deserving any of it. The dynamic makes for an interesting watch…but not a great one.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
The Strays
Directed by Nathaniel Martello-White
Screenplay by Nathaniel Martello-White
Starring Ashley Madekwe, Bukky Bakray, Jorden Myrie, Samuel Small, Maria Almeida and Justin Salinger
The Strays Review
The Strays is purposely non-committal. It makes the payoff to the story worthwhile…but makes for a frustrating watch. As a new movie review we can’t get in to why the choice works well in the end…so this review is going to sound more negative than represents the full product. The Strays is worth watching despite the complaints.
Cheryl (Ashley Madekwe) has carved out the perfect suburban life for herself and her family. The past comes back to threaten everything she has built. That past is represented by the two children she abandoned to start her new life.
The Strays makes an interesting choice in giving its main character an unlikable background. It positions the “intruders” into her new life as the wronged party. Cheryl tries to excuse her decision as something men get away with all the time…but that never rectifies the fact that it’s not a positive when fathers do it either. But the movie isn’t telling a justified revenge story.
The two children ingratiate themselves into the lives of Cheryl’s new children. They come across as threatening but don’t cross the line immediately. The line is crossed later…when the abandoned children take the family hostage. Cheryl tries to buy them off before this…with the added promise that they can work through their issues at a future date. But the movie isn’t telling a story about making peace with the past either.
The story that The Strays seems to be interested in is about race. Cheryl is a light skinned black woman who abandons her first two children and a life she hates to start a new one. Complete with a white husband and a beautiful suburban neighborhood. There are moments where she is reminded that she isn’t quite fully accepted by her new world. She can’t outrun who she is. That’s the story the movie is telling.
Which makes it an odd watch. It doesn’t seem to have a position on any of this. It never goes all in on messaging one way or another. When the children of her past do horrible things…is it justified by their past? Or is it saying that she was right to leave a bad situation? The Strays doesn’t have an opinion on it. It’s a movie that puts the issue of race firmly in the center of its story…and never commits to an idea about it.
The reason that’s ok…but we don’t get it until the final moments of the story. We can’t talk about that here…but it’s why I recommend watching The Strays despite the frustration of the journey. The destination is so interesting. Despite the larger topics at play…it’s not a movie about race…it’s a movie about Cheryl. It can’t commit to anything because Cheryl can’t. She doesn’t have the answers…so we don’t get them either. It’s a personal character study that distracts with bigger ideas.
Madekwe makes it all work. She’s terrific as a woman who you can’t get a good read on. It’s a hard ask to lead a film where you are under thread…but it’s also maybe your fault. It could easily slip into getting what she deserves…or having to root for a person you don’t want to identify with. But it never does. She walks an emotional tightrope, leading us to an unexpected place. Unexpected, but earned.
The Strays wants you to feel what Cheryl does. Afraid of past choices, worried about the future, and unsure of how to hold together a life being blown apart. It succeeds at this goal. Then it ends in a bold, interesting way that finally solidifies what the movie has been about from the start.
Scare Value
The Strays makes confident choices with its characters…but I’m not convinced it always makes the right ones. The ending is terrific…but is somewhat muddled by the choices that lead to it. I was never sure who I was supposed to be rooting for here…and when the credits rolled, I was less certain than ever. There’s enough here to recommend…but it might leave you feeling like something is missing.
2.5/5
The Strays Link
Streaming on Netflix
The Strays Trailer
If you enjoyed this review of The Strays, check out some other new movie reviews: M3GAN Unrated, Cocaine Bear, Boston Strangler and Unlocked
