The Happytime Murders: Film Review

The Happytime Murders: Film Review

Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Elizabeth Banks, Maya Rudolph, Leslie David Baker, Joel McHale, Bill Barretta
Director: Brian Henson

On paper, The Happytime Murders should kill it.

A foul fuzzy felted mix of raunchy gags, meshed with the adult arm of the Henson Muppet Company, and a take on the buddy cop genre, it should in theory have worked.

But Brian Henson's attempt at muppet mayhem falls short in terms of its gag ratio, with perhaps the best of them used in the trailer, leaving the film lacking in prime content.

Set in a world where muppets and humans co-exist, but with lashings of discrimination against puppet-kind, Barretta is Phil Philips, a muppet former-detective-turned-PI, (who looks similar to David Boreanaz's Angel when he was turned into a puppet in Joss Whedon's show) who's called in to investigate a series of murders involving the puppets of a once popular TV show The Happytime Gang.

Forced to team up with his former partner Connie Edwards (McCarthy, who generates some reasonable chemistry with the forlorn Philips), the duo set out to solve the case...

The Happytime Murders meshes both buddy cop movie tropes with gumshoe shenanigans - but to middling effect in large sections.

Unsure of whether to fully embrace the foulness seen in the likes of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Avenue Q and Meet The Feebles, what actually emerges in The Happytime Murders is a tame and tepid, occasionally funny slice of homage that lacks the requisite humour.

That's not to say there aren't the giggles - presumably more if you've indulged / not seen the red band trailer, but The Happytime Murders falls short on several fronts.

McCarthy and Barretta actually gel well, and the dynamic, while overly familiar, hits the notes it should, with McCarthy dialling it down in parts. Better still are the moments where Rudolph and
McCarthy riff off each other, bringing genuine comedy chemistry to the fore - and simultaneously reminding you what's really missing here. And it's galling as it slowly beats the fuzzy felted stuffing out of you.

Less Meet The Feebles, more just Feeble, with side order of squandered potential, The Happytime Murders is a killer for all the wrong reasons.