Get the Goat

Movie review by Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media
Get the Goat Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 13+

Clueless cop comedy; language, comic violence, drugs.

NR 2021 97 minutes
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  • Get the Goat Movie: Scene # 1
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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Get the Goat is a slapstick comedy about two demoted incompetent Brazilian cops, one a daredevil from the sticks and the other a meek desk jockey from the big city. Their accidental partnership provides the shtick as bravado meets timidity in the pursuit of murderous drug-dealing bad guys. Language includes "s--t," "ass," "damn," "hell," "bastard," "screw," and "crap." Gun-toting drug dealers, however comical, can be scary at times. Two men must awkwardly pretend to be a gay couple in love, which embarrasses them. Drugs are hidden in children's popular candy for smuggling and distribution purposes. A goat eats the merchandise and everyone waits for the goat to defecate the goods. Crack, cigarettes, coke, alcohol, and junkies are mentioned. (In Portuguese with English subtitles.)

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What's the Story?

Bruce (Edmilson Filho) is a good-natured, over-zealous local cop in a small rural Brazilian town where crime is nearly nonexistent and the other officers take a siesta in the office every day. When Bruce's diligence gets him in trouble, he's removed from security duty on a local festival and assigned to babysit the town's mascot, a friendly goat. The goat meanders into the truck of a drug dealer's henchman who's on his way to evil, big city Sao Paolo. Bruce has never been, but pursues the truck and stumbles into a major drug deal. The Sao Paolo police are setting up a sting to nab those dealers, but that's ruined by the incompetence and cowardice of a meek officer named Trindade (Matheus Nachtergaele), whose instincts for self preservation lead to the death of a fellow officer. Relegated to a remote desk job, he encounters Bruce and is infected with a fervor to find the goat and arrest the drug dealers. Mayhem ensues.

Is It Any Good?

For anyone but the youngest audience members, who are most likely to laugh at obvious gags and jokes based on incompetence, this movie will require a great deal of patience. Get the Goat mimics many comic cop buddy movies of yesteryear but doesn't develop or build on that basic genre in any significant way. If not for the language and references to drug dealing, the movie's sensibility matches the elementary school set's overall penchant for goofy humor perfectly.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how seriously we're supposed to take the perilous situations in the movie. What are some clues that show the good guys are going to be safe in the face of supposed danger?

  • How does this movie use the template for suspenseful, true-crime movies to make comedy?

  • The movie doesn't talk about why selling drugs is a criminal activity. Do you think this makes it easier for the audience to laugh at the crime and the violence? Why or why not?

Movie Details

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