I think I was a little confused about what The Napa Boys was supposed to be when I sat down at my TIFF 2025 screening. Originally, I was under the impression that the movie was an ode to the great American adventures…you know the kind. American Pie, Road Trip, etc. Though The Napa Boys is absolutely paying homage to them, it is more a parody than anything. With that surprise to me, though it sometimes pushes the limits of funny versus ridiculous, The Napa Boys had me laughing, and that’s the whole point.
To fully explain the entire vibe of The Napa Boys, you have to first understand that they talk like this is the sequel to a less-popular franchise, and that’s kind of the bit. If you can get behind that concept, then you’re in the right mindset for the rest of the film. The story follows the titular group as they take a trip out to their wine festival as grown men with jobs and lives that have changed.
“To fully explain the entire vibe of The Napa Boys, you have to first understand that they talk like this is the sequel to a less-popular franchise, and that’s kind of the bit.”
Miles Jr has lost his wife and children, and constant jokes and pokes at their deaths are the kind of comedy we are looking at. Jack Jr is an adulterer, Puck is a stowaway woman who badly wants to join the male-only group, Kevin is the seemingly perfect family man who shouldn’t have come, S.b. is the businessman, complete with a briefcase…you get the picture. Everyone plays a stereotype to fill out the cast, even the supporting roles. This helps to play to the overall parody of the standard adventure films.
I can best describe The Napa Boys as the Scary Movie of adventure. Where Scary Movie explored and mocked horror, The Napa Boys hit on every trope you can find in an ensemble adventure. Whether it’s best friends hanging out with a pair of girls to get laid, group members being separated from the group, someone having to endure something wildly awful for the good of the group, or even just an extremely obnoxious enemy, the film finds something to mock about all of them.
The film references everything from The Lord Of The Rings to Road Trip to American Pie and even a bit of The Wizard of Oz. No adventure film is safe. If you can avoid looking at the cast, you will be surprised by a few great cameos from some of these classics, too. You can find your typical getting-laid story lines, some nature walk strolls, missions to head to a secret hideout, and even some space references. It ties it all together in the most ridiculous way, which is part of the charm, but I think, in this case anyway, less could have been more.
I think the beauty of these kinds of comedies, these “stupid” funny movies, is that even when the jokes don’t land, they still kind of land. The Napa Boys really works to hone the art of focusing on a joke so long that it is no longer funny, yet holds out even longer until it turns around and becomes funny again. Not every joke landed for me, but I think that the ones that didn’t for me will land for others, and the ones I loved, someone else will hate. This kind of comedy is brutally objective, making it hard to judge.
“The Napa Boys really works to hone the art of focusing on a joke so long that it is no longer funny, yet holds out even longer until it turns around and becomes funny again.”
I think the favourite bits in The Napa Boys that were unique to it surrounded the inclusivity of the cast and story. There were queer characters, women, and people of colour, but the only time these subjects were mocked was when the bad guys did it. It was nice to see that these groups weren’t at the butt of every joke or only a part of the film because they had to be. In some cases, they were even the heroes.
The Napa Boys ensured that the good guys didn’t treat inclusivity like something they had to do (aside from Jack Jr’s role) and made note that anyone who did think like that was essentially uncool. It was refreshing for this kind of movie.
Ultimately, The Napa Boys set out to do what it wanted. Though I spent a lot of time asking myself, “What the hell is going on?” I was laughing, and so was the theatre. That being said, if you don’t like stupid, slapstick, gross-out comedies, this is absolutely not the film for you.
