The Happytime Murders

Dir: Brian Henson

2018

**

While early reviews of 2018’s long-awaited The Happytime Murders were a little harsh, it is fair to say the film is a disappointment. The idea has been in development hell for a long time and while I was thrilled about the idea of an adult version of the Muppets back in the day, I’m afraid the stage show Avenue Q beat them to it and also kind of killed it for me. I thought I wanted Muppets having sex, swearing and taking drugs but Avenue Q proved otherwise. I get it though, Brian ‘Son of Jim’ Henson has been working on his Puppet Up! Shows for years, a show that is largely improvised with suggestion shouted out by audience members. It all goes back to growing up surrounded by his father and the Muppet family “As a kid, I would watch my dad working,” he explains. “And I particularly enjoyed what they would do when the cameras weren’t running, when they were goofing around off-camera and it got quite blue and quite off-colour – and, hilariously funny, in my opinion.” In Brian’s eyes, The Happytime Murders builds on those memories. It’s an R-rated noir parody. Unfortunately it is woefully misjudged and I’m not sure the initial ideas were developed enough – which is inexcusable really, given the amount of time it has been hanging around. The film takes place in a world where puppets coexist with humans, but are reviled by humans and considered inferior. There is an undercurrent of historical racial unrest within the idea but it is never really built upon. Phil Phillips is a puppet who lives in Los Angeles, the first puppet cop on the LAPD before being fired. Now working as a private detective with his human secretary Bubbles (Maya Rudolph), Phil is approached by puppet client Sandra, and is hired to find out who has been blackmailing her. While looking for a lead at a puppet owned porn-shop, Phil goes in the back to check the records. When Phil is gone, an unknown attacker comes in and kills everyone present, and it is revealed one of the customers, Bumblypants, is a cast member from “The Happytime Gang”, a popular puppet sitcom from the 90s that was due to go into syndication. After the LAPD arrive at the crime scene, Philips meets up with his former partner, Detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy), with whom he had a falling out. Twelve years ago, Edwards was being held at gunpoint by a puppet criminal, and Phil tried to shoot him, but he missed and hit an innocent puppet, killing him in front of his young daughter. The thug shot Edwards, but she killed him before he got away. The gunshot wound nearly proved fatal for Edwards, who was left with a puppet liver as a result of a transplant when a puppet clinic was the closest available medical treatment facility after she was shot. Left with an addiction to sugar- which is essentially like heroin to puppets- Edwards later testified against Phil, and he was thrown off the force, with a law put in place to prevent puppets from being cops. At present time, Edwards believes it was a robbery gone wrong, but Phil notes that it was just murder because the assailant didn't take anything. That night, Larry Shenanigans, former Happytime cast-member and Phil’s brother, is torn apart when someone lets a group of dogs into his house. Enraged, Philips reluctantly teams up with Edwards at the request of Lt. Banning to find the killer. Believing the killer may be targeting members of The Happytime Gang, and discovering that the contract for syndication promises the royalty money to surviving family members, the pair then tract down the surviving members of the show to warn them and to find out which one of them is the killer – if any. The characters have all either fallen from grace or have done well for themselves – but have mainly fallen on hard times, developing drug habits, porn addictions and indulging in incestuous relationships. Goofer, the shows lovable fool, is now a homeless sugar addict and the show’s ‘kissing cousins’ live with their deformed children in the country. Jenny, the show’s only human, is now a stripper and Lyle is a drug lord and a reused theme is continued. I’m not sure why sex, drugs and violence are the only adult themes they could come up with really, as every day aspects of adult life could have been just as funny, just not as shocking. The problem is that the shock element is over with within the first few minutes of the film, so from then on the themes are tired and gratuitous. I think this is the reason so few people went to go and see it and why those that did didn’t like it. There is one particular sex scene that really needed editing. Phil gets lucky with his client and the pair spend several minutes on his desk before he pulls out and continues to spray silly string around his office for what feels like at least ten minutes. It’s fairly grim. The problem is though that the joke gets less funny the longer it continues – something that the team just don’t understand. Melissa McCarthy is known for her improvised comedy, that is why she was cast, but her improvisation is awful and most people have realised by now that Bridesmaids really wasn’t as funny as people first thought it was. As a huge Muppet fan I was torn and I wasn’t sure whether this was something I wanted to see or not. I could never want to see a film that was anti-Muppet but I adore peter Jackson’s Meet The Feebles, which is a totally different kettle of fish. The problem I hate with Happytime was that it was the anti-Muppets made by the son of the creator, my childhood and adulthood idol, Jim Henson. I wondered for a moment whether Brian secretly hated his father, which of course he doesn’t, but that is just how wrong he has got this. I also wondered whether it was a two-fingered salute to Disney and what they have done with his father’s legacy. The fact that Kevin Clash was in it too sort of made me think this was revenge by the Muppet members who had been hard done by. I was surprised that Bill Barretta was allowed to star in it considering how integral he is in the Muppets now, so I hope he and Pepe are safe because if they can get rid of Steve Whitmore then they can get rid of anyone. I just wish Brian had control of the Muppets instead of Disney, then maybe the Muppets could go back to how they were – playful, mischievous and funny without having to shove a moral lesson down your neck every five minutes. I saw the Muppets Take The O2 show in London in the summer of 2018 and it was one of the most heartbreakingly awful things I have ever seen. The Happytime Murders is a masterpiece compared to that car crash but it’s still not right. I loved the concept and I loved Phil, I just hated the overused themes and the rubbish improvisation. In truth I would have been happy watching Phil driving his car around town (I don’t know why but watching a Muppet driving fills me with much happiness) but once again, the humans let down an otherwise interesting puppet movie. The difference between a truly great The Happytime Murders and the one they made is about ten minutes-worth of changes. Like I said, it isn’t as bad as many would have you believe but it really isn’t great – it just could have been. I think the fact that Sesame Street tried to sue the movie just makes the whole story even sadder. I miss Jim Henson.