Daily Times

Produced by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, but written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, this crass coming-of-age comedy mines its laughs from the transition between childhood and teenagedom. Its trio of sweary 12-year-olds might be gearing up to attend their first “kissing party”, but they also have 8.30pm bedtimes and refer to themselves as the “Bean Bag Boys”. “We’re not kids, we’re tweens!” squeaks future heartbreaker Max. When Max gets caught using his dad’s drone to perv on his teenage neighbours, the Bean Bag Boys must band together to retrieve or replace the toy, an increasingly difficult task given the gang’s resident goody-two-shoes Lucas. The film opens with the Chakachas’ 1971 single Jungle Fever, a disco track that featured prominently in Paul Thomas Anderson’s porn industry odyssey Boogie Nights. I suppose the incongruity is meant to be amusing, as are the set pieces that expose the moppets’ naivety. “It’s pronounced cüm,” insists theatre geek Thor.