ReelBob: ‘The Happytime Murders’ ★

By Bob Bloom

I realize I’m sounding like the crotchety old man who yells at the neighborhood kids to keep off his lawn, but I found “The Happytime Murders” a disgrace to the legacy of the late Jim Henson.

The movie, directed by Henson’s son, Brian, is filthy, mean-spirited and sloppy.

The only people who will enjoy the movie are those excited by seeing puppets having sex, dropping f-bombs or using drugs.

I don’t know if Brian Henson has some issues about his father, but it’s evident that the actions of the puppets and the tone of the movie are a slap in his father’s face.

Jim Henson was a pioneer, the creator of Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie and other characters who inhabited “Sesame Street.” The series influenced and educated generations of children, gently teaching them letters, numbers and words, as well as lessons about tolerance, friendship and cooperation.

Henson’s Muppets were a television mainstay, with Kermit, Fozzie and others interacting with human guest stars. It was all fun and satire.

“The Happytime Murders” offers a modicum of social spoof as it presents a world in which humans and puppets coexist in Los Angeles. But puppets, derisively called “socks,” are treated as second-class citizens.

“Happytime’s” premise is that the cast of a beloved ’90s children’s TV show is being murdered one by one.
One of those killed is the brother of Phil Phillips, a puppet who was the first to serve on the police department, but he was dismissed in disgrace for failing to shoot a puppet who was holding hostage his partner, Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy).

Instead, Phillips’ shot killed an innocent bystander — also a puppet; thus, his fall from grace.

Edwards’ lieutenant forces her and Phillips to work together to solve the cast slayings.

The reasons for the killings and the culprit are easy to discern, but actually, it’s not important.

Henson and his writers, Todd Berger and Dee Austin Robertson, seem more intent on seeing how low they can go rather than in telling a coherent story.

The film is simply a one-trick pony, a gimmick feature that wears thin very quickly.

McCarthy is wasted, and I really wonder why she participated in this travesty.

The only people who come off unscathed are the puppeteers who — of course — remain offscreen, until you see some of them in the outtakes shown during the closing credits.

You continually scratch your head during “The Happytime Murders,” wondering why Henson and his team believed the movie was funny and why a studio ­— after viewing the finished product — did not simply dig a hole and bury the entire enterprise.

I am a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS
1 star out of 4
(R), strong and crude sexual content, language, drug use, violence