Good Boy, Starring Indy as Himself

Indy is calmer under pressure than Scooby-Doo, but he is still just a dog. He has no frame-of-reference to understand what is happening to his owner, Todd. Frankly, us humans won’t always be so sure we know either. Regardless, Indy, the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Terrier will do what he can to save Todd—and he really is quite resourceful in Ben Leonberg’s Good Boy, which opens Friday in theaters.

The audience quickly deduces Todd has a history of mental health issues, likely complicated by problems of addiction. His sister Vera definitely feels the need to keep tabs on him. She also clearly appreciates Indy’s healthy influence. Nevertheless, she is surprised and somewhat justifiably concerned when Todd suddenly moves into their grandfather’s long vacant farmhouse.

In fact, the suggestive old school VHS home movies that Todd watches clearly lead us to suspect some kind of sinister force contributed to Grandpa’s demise. Much to Indy’s alarm, the same mysterious force soon starts tormenting Todd as well. Or perhaps poor Indy cannot fathom Todd’s behavior, so he perceives it as something truly monstrous outside his own control.

Frankly, Good Boy would have been even more successful if it had more forcefully embraced the supernatural elements and foreclosed any metaphorical speculation. Nevertheless, a star is truly born in Indy, who is indeed a very good dog. Honestly, Indy probably gives one of the best starring performances you will see at the movies throughout the entire Awards season-dominated fourth quarter of 2025.

Evidently, it took Leonberg over three years to film Good Boy, because Indy (his own dog) had limited patience with the silly filmmaking process. However, it was worth conforming to his schedule, because hee is a wildly endearing and eerily expressive on-screen presence. Surely, Leonberg and his producer-wife Kari Fischer developed their own working methods with Indy, but they always got the perfect look from their star. Plus, Max has some highly memorable scenes as Grandpa’s old dog, Bandit.

In fact, the dogs must carry the film, because we never really get a good look at the people, except Larry Fessenden, making a clever cameo as Grandpa, courtesy of his home movies. Throughout the film, Leonberg either focuses on Indy or depicts the action from his dog-level POV. Viewers might need a little time to acclimate to the film’s perspective, but it never feels gimmicky. Indeed, Good Boy consistently reflects a coherent vision.

There is already Oscar buzz for DiCaprio and Chalamet, but they are just hacks phoning it in compared to Indy’s star turn. You might dismiss that as hyperbole, but he puts his paw-print stamp on this film, like few thesps can. Very highly recommended, for Indy as Indy and Leonberg’s disciplined execution of a genuinely original concept, Good Boy opens this Friday (10/3) in theaters, including the AMC Lincoln Square in New York.