“The Happytime Murders” is one of those movies that a person will find while scrolling through Netflix some day in search of a mind-numbing comedy. In an attempt at an R-rated puppet movie by the son of the creator of “The Muppets,” the film felt too reliant on adult humor to get cheap laughs or reactions out of the audience instead of building upon a decent plot with characters that the audience want to cheer on or hate.
The plot is centered around Phil Philips, the first puppet-turned-cop in history. However, an untimely accident forced the town to make society view puppets as subordinates to humans. Once individual members of an old television show get hired for a reboot, they end up getting murdered. Philips and his former police partner Detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy) attempt to figure out who is responsible for the murders, but have trouble with personal issues from their past.
One issue with the film was McCarthy; it was extremely challenging to find myself rooting for her character, even though that is the opposite of what the film intends. Maybe it was the style of the comedy, but a memorable scene with her snorting sugar failed to elicit the intended reaction from the audience.
Movie fans have a love-hate relationship with Melissa McCarthy. @HappytimeMovie
The plot sounds decent enough to make the average audience let go of reality for 91 minutes. However, the fact that the R-rating seemed to be the focal point of this script, the abundance of crude humor and vulgar language can take viewers out of the movie.
One thing that the movie has is a decent cast; the film had a few stars in it with relative success in their respective careers thus far. The performance of Leslie David Baker, who plays Lieutenant Banning, was good throughout the movie. The puppetry in the film was also a plus, making some of the puppets feel more important than they should have. During the credits, audience members were rewarded with getting a behind-the-scenes look into how some of the puppetry was produced, which is always a treat.
All in all, “The Happytime Murders” had a decent script, good soundtrack, and excellent production staff. It is obvious this was something director Brian Henson wanted to do, and he was not going to take no for an answer, no matter how valuable additional input may have been. Even with a decent plot, the writing seemed to primarily focus on cheap laughs and sexual references too much for a 91-minute movie. The comedy gets dry and repetitive during viewing but is worth watching if one is bored and wants to have a good laugh after a stressful week. Maybe an R-rated “Muppets” movie was not the best call.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 paws
