'The Happytime Murders' is directed by Brian Henson, son of Jim Henson and stars Melissa McCarthy as a washed up cop who is teamed up with her old partner, a puppet P.I. named Phil Phillips and together they must solve a series mysterious murders revolving around an old children's show 'The Happytime Gang'. On paper, the idea of making a buddy cop film with puppets is a pretty absurd idea and...yeah on screen it's executed just as you might imagine it. The film's world has puppets as a very unloved minority, but other than the outcast Phillips character you don't really get the racial relations vibe I think they were going for.
As stated above, this is the brainchild of Brian Henson, whose father created the beloved Muppets and while I can see many people thinking the film as being an absolute slap in the face to what Henson's father made, I think that Brian just merely wished to experiment with something different. He doesn't use the name Muppets in the film or in any of the marketing and the marketing itself trying its damnedest to tell people that this is not a family friendly film. But did this experiment work out for Henson? Yes and No. I didn't go into 'The Happytime Murders' wanting a masterpiece, but just a fun film with vulgar puppets and a pretty good murder mystery plot woven in there with the rest of the stuffing and for the most part, I got what I came for.
Despite the heavy marketing using the film's more graphic moments, when seeing the full film it really is no worse than your average R-rated comedy nowadays. But that's not to say it doesn't live up to that rating because trust me, this is a hard R movie with graphic sexual content and language and while the acts are mostly being portrayed by puppets, it will still get a rise out of more sensitive viewers. But that is also where 'Happytime Murders' really falls a bit for me: the gross out and vulgar humor. It was built up as being a big part of the film and while I'm relived that it wasn't, the jokes in question go on for far too long and are pretty cheap attempts to piss off people or just to be gross. Luckily, I found that the overall script was sharp and the interactions between Phillips and McCarthy are funny.
Despite all the negative press this film is getting, I'm going to be on the other side and recommend 'Happytime Murders'. It's probably getting a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes as we speak, but I must reiterate: what are people expecting out of this movie? It's exactly as they advertised, a detective movie about raunchy puppets and Melissa McCarthy doing some crazy shit. I trust that most people with a sense of humor will enjoy the movie but there will always be those sticks in the mud. Check it out with some friends if you can, it'll be much more fun that way. Oh and stay for those credits to see some cool behind the scenes footage and bloopers.
4/5
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