The Bad Guys Parent Guide

The Bad Guys are a notorious gang of criminals with a knack for pulling off successful heists. One day their luck turns and Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Snake (Marc Maron), Shark (Craig Robinson), Tarantula (Awkwafina), and Piranha (Anthony Ramos), get caught in a heist gone wrong. To stay out of prison, they must convince the leaders of their city that they can turn over a new leaf and become good. With no intention of actually reforming, the gang start taking “goodness lessons” from the altruistic Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade), but they soon discover that doing good might actually feel better than being bad.

I worked at my city’s public library for a little while, and I can tell you that it was impossible to keep The Bad Guys graphic novels on the shelves. I don’t think I ever worked a shift without at least one child asking me if we had any copies left. When an incredibly popular book series gets turned into a movie, I get nervous. I grew up in the age of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and those horrible live-action Dr. Seuss adaptations, so I know first-hand how badly these cinematic ventures can turn out. Even though I haven’t read the source material for this film, I can tell that it is a fantastic adaptation. My theater was packed full of kids, and I overheard many of them talking about how much they enjoyed the film.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the book’s world building, there are going to be some moments of confusion. This version of Los Angeles is primarily occupied by humans, but it also contains anthropomorphic animals as well as regular pet animals: it makes no sense. Also, Shark and Piranha just walk around on land, and no one acknowledges it. I’m sure kids won’t be bothered, but adults need to accept it and move on; it will make your viewing experience much more enjoyable than trying to puzzle out the inconsistencies.

Outside of that, The Bad Guys is a fun, clever, exciting heist movie. My love of heist films is well documented, so I was very excited to find a kid-friendly take on the genre that is worth watching. I laughed, I was surprised by the twists, and I got emotionally invested in the character arcs. There are lots of fun set pieces, clever jokes, and some deeper messages about biases, stereotypes, and the intrinsic value of doing good things. My five-year-old told me on the drive home that it is “good to be good”, which is worth the price of admission.

For a heist story, The Bad Guys is as close to being free of objectionable content as I think it’s possible to be. Of course, there’s some fighting and a bit of peril, but it’s all done with a comedic tone that prevents any real scariness or aggression. I will point out that there are a lot of fart and butt jokes, which got a few eye rolls from me but a lot of laughs from the kids. The fantastic performances and positive messages more than made up for that potty humor, in my opinion. For a film all about being bad, it sure ends up being good.