Sightlines · reception

How Good Boy was received

2026 · Jan Komasa · Good Boy on Sightlines

The arc

Premiered warmly at TIFF 2025 (it sits at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes), then hit its 2026 rollout under a different name — Heel — and drew a scrappier, more divided response, with some calling it Komasa's first miss.

What’s debated

The fight is over whether the film is satirizing its captors' brutal 'rehabilitation' project or quietly endorsing it — critics split hard on which movie they'd watched.

Its footprint

Its main life in film-chat is as 'the other Good Boy' — the one that isn't the dog-POV horror movie from the same year — plus the recurring 'early Lanthimos' comparison critics keep reaching for.

Where it stands

Too new for a settled reputation: currently filed as the divisive English-language swing from the Corpus Christi director, a curiosity for Komasa completists rather than a consensus favorite.

Did you know? It was retitled 'Heel' for its US release specifically to avoid confusion with the other 2025 'Good Boy' — the indie horror film told from a dog's point of view.