{"id":28824,"date":"2018-08-26T08:26:03","date_gmt":"2018-08-26T12:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=28824"},"modified":"2018-08-26T23:07:13","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T03:07:13","slug":"the-happytime-murders-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/26\/the-happytime-murders-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"The Happytime Murders (2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Director Brian Henson explained in an interview that he hopes the wrong audience doesn\u2019t accidentally see \u201cThe Happytime Murders.\u201d So I have to ask: Who is \u201cThe Happytime Murders\u201d meant for? Who is the target audience here? It certainly has aroused the ire and vitriol of Muppets fans, horror fans mostly dislike it, and it has inspired nothing but groans and eye rolls from comedy movie buffs, so who is this movie for, anyway? Despite Henson\u2019s best efforts to pad the wet thud that is \u201cThe Happytime Murders\u201d by labeling it a \u201cguilty pleasure,\u201d you\u2019d have a much better time putting socks on your hands and barking random expletives to yourself.<\/p>\n

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In a world where humans and puppets share society, the puppet population is still a minority struggling to be taken seriously and be given equal rights. Phil Phillips is a hard boiled puppet detective assigned a case by a buxom puppet named Sandra. Once he goes picking his nose around, he\u2019s accidentally involved in a large murder scene. He quickly begins to realize the murder is actually a series of coordinated hits being unleashed on the ex-cast members of a hit puppet show named \u201cHappy Time.\u201d Now paired with his ex-partner, human Connie Edwards, the pair form an unlikely partnership and uncover a weird labyrinth of secrets, drugs, and conspiracies.<\/p>\n

Melissa McCarthy is horribly miscast as the co-star to a film where puppets basically the steal the show and \u201cThe Happytime Murders\u201d is a misfire from the starting gate. Brian Henson is never quite sure who the straight man and who the comedic relief is, so McCarthy and her felt co-star are constantly bickering at one another and shooting weak one-liners back and forth. This leaves the movie to feel painfully awkward and incredibly limp in its delivery of a premise that\u2019s one note and probably would have been better left for a YouTube Red series. Henson and co. are dealt McCarthy (inexplicably a big star at the moment), so rather than make her a straight man, she and character Phil almost seem to compete for the most laughs. To boot, a lot of \u201cThe Happytime Murders\u201d bounces between a straight faced crime thriller and a satire of noir crime dramas.<\/p>\n

The screenplay is never sure if it\u2019s offering us an alternate universe tale or some kind of warped play on the gumshoe dime novel sub-genre. Pretty much all of the gags involving the puppets are flat and obvious. The cute puppets are perverts (a sex addicted rabbit ejaculates Easter eggs when he\u2019s aroused) and or killers, and there\u2019s the whole porn shop opening scene which is one giant yawn filled with puns and sight gags. There\u2019s also the big sight gag, which Henson seems proud of in interviews, where the puppets spray silly string rather than semen whenever having sex. \u201cThe Happytime Murders\u201d could at least be entertaining and engaging to compensate for the lack of laughs, but it can\u2019t even accomplish that<\/em>. I\u2019m not sure why we had to have a big theatrical film based around a joke that\u2019s one note and validates its existence in its entire runtime. You\u2019re much better off watching stuff like \u201cMeet the Feebles,\u201d \u201cTeam America,\u201d or \u201cTed\u201d than this giant, festering, awful rip off of \u201cWho Framed Roger Rabbit?\u201d<\/p>\n