The Happytime Murders (Review)
The Happytime Murders Has it All: Sex, Drugs, and Puppets.
The Happytime Murders is easily one of the most original premises I’ve seen in theaters all year. A hardboiled detective story told with Jim Henson-esque puppets like you grew up with on Sesame Street. This time though they aren’t just singing and dancing, but are about as lewd as a Seth Rogan comedy. It’s an interesting combination and one that works for the most part. The biggest downfall of The Happytime Murders is that it is a pretty obvious and straightforward crime noir. But what the hell did you expect? It’s got puppets in it for God’s sake.
In a world where puppets exist alongside humans, private eye Phil Phillips (Bill Barretta) is just trying to scrape by. This isn’t easy though since humans are pretty prejudice against puppets in general. However, his life gets even harder when he gets sucked into a case where his old friends are dying and he’s the main suspect. Luckily for him, his old partner Detective Connie Williams (Melissa McCarthy) is willing to put the past behind them and help clear his name. The end result is a bumper car journey through the puppet underworld of Los Angeles.
Obviously a lot of the jokes in The Happytime Murders relly on shock value. Everything from puppets filming porn to puppets doing drugs to straight up puppet murder. Inevitably this all starts to wear thin after a while. However, the banter between Phillips and his ex-partner remains fresh and humorous throughout the entire film. Personally, I like the tough (mean) version of Melissa McCarthy we get this time around much more than the sheepish and cheesy characters we’ve seen in films like Life of the Party. This time around there isn’t a focus on her being a Buffon, rather she’s a hard-nosed detective with an attitude and a sharp tongue to match. The way the two go after each other over and over again manages to keep the audience laughing long after the initial gimmick of The Happytime Murders starts to fade.
I have to give credits to the likes of Bill Barretta, Kevin Clash, and Dorien Davies who play most of the main puppets in the film. Their work is actually pretty spectacular considering the types of actions they have to get their puppets to do. The Happytime Murders would have been nowhere near as funny without the physical comedy seen through their work. They’re so good in fact, that I actually found myself suspending my disbelief over everything that was happening pretty easily. I mean, if you’re going to have an octopus puppet perform in a backroom porno convincingly, you’ve got to be a damn good puppeteer. Luckily, the entire cast is made up of some of the best in the industry.
Just in case it needs to be said, The Happytime Murders is not a movie for kids. Don’t think that just because it’s got a bunch of fluff balls cast in lead roles that it’s going to censor itself, because it’s not. In fact, it pushes the envelope as far as it can as much as it can. From graphic nudity to language that would make a sailor blush, The Happytime Murders is as far from a family-friendly film as you can get. On that note, it is absolutely hilarious. Sure it tries a little hard at times and some of the jokes are stupid, but it’s a movie about the underworld of puppets. You can’t hold this film to the same standards as any other cop movie. In that regards, The Happytime Murders is a mind-blowing blast. It’s clear that director Brian Henson had a lot of pent-up NSFW material in his brain after so many Muppet movies and he lets it explode all over the big screen.
The best part about The Happytime Murders though is that it taps on all the tropes of a classic hardboiled detective story. A hero who has become jaded to the world around him and doesn’t have anything left to lose, a femme fatale that sets the hero off in the direction of disaster, a kind and supportive woman the hero should be with, unsavory characters lurking in the shadows, and plenty of twists and turns. It might not be Chinatown, but it manages to hit all the right nails on the head, thematically speaking.
The parts where it does stumble are when it the film doesn’t go far enough with the pieces that matter. The case is a bit of a no-brainer from the get-go and all the pieces fall into place a little too easily. Most of the characters are shallow caricatures of what you might expect from noir. True, The Happytime Murders is far from a perfect film and isn’t going to be picking up anything come award season. But, let me just say again, IT’S A MOVIE ABOUT PUPPETS!
To be honest, anyone walking into The Happytime Murders expecting anything other than foul-mouthed raunchy humor and just enough plot to keep the characters moving from scene to scene is an idiot. Writer Todd Berger manages to walk the line between quick wit and juvenile comedy well enough to keep audiences entertained. Don’t get me wrong, The Happytime Murders is an incredibly stupid movie, but that’s what makes it so much fun. It abandons any pressure it might have to be “great” and instead focuses on giving audiences exactly what it advertises. People who are legitimately excited about this film will not be disappointed.
