Genre: Action/ Comedy
Runtime: 91 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Elizabeth Banks, Maya Rudolph, Leslie David Baker, Joel McHale, Cynthy Wu, Michael McDonald, Mitch Silpa, Hemky Madera, Brennan Spens, Ryan Tran, Fortune Feimster, Bill Barretta
Description: When the puppet cast of a '90s children's TV show begin to get murdered one by one, a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private eye puppet (Bill Barretta) takes on the case.
Review: In “The Happytime Murders”, the Sesamestrees and Muppet-like puppets lose their innocence. With this comedy, Brian Henson seems to rebel against his father Jim Henson’s legacy. Jim Henson was the mastermind behind “Sesamestreet”, “The Muppet Show” and “Fraggle Rock”. Brian Henson used them for a more adult themed film in “The happytime Murders”, where we see a parody of the film noir detectives like “Chinatown” or “L.A. Confidential”. A promising idea, but cringing humor.
Where in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” people lived in the same world as cartoon characters , puppets live together with people in “The Happytime Murders”. Puppets have the same rights as people, but are treated like second-hand citizens. Phil Philips was the first puppet cop hired by the L.A.P.D., but due to an incident he got fired. Since then he is working as a private detective, had a drinking problem and can’t seem to leave the past behind him. When a serial killer is out there murdering the cast of the former TV show ‘The Happytime Gang’, Phil is forced to work together with his former (human) partner Edwards.
From the first minute it’s clear it’s not a normal muppet-like film. Especially when Philips has to visit a sex shop for his first case. It causes hilarity. At first. But very early on in the movie, it falls into juvenile and cringeworthy jokes.
I really loved this concept and I was looking forward to seeing this film. But it only manages to meet my expectations in the first 15 minutes. It’s all downhill from there.
Rating: 1,5 / 5
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