3 outta 5

*** outta *****

The Happytime Murders is sort of a one joke premise, crass puppets that look like the Muppets engaging in sex and violence, but oddly manages to offer up enough entertainment out of that single bit. Probably because the Muppet look has been associated with wholesome for very long that seeing it twisted on its head is really effective. This is also straight up directed by Brian Henson the son of legendary puppeteer and creator of the Muppets, Jim Henson, and since Brian has directed several Muppet things over the years it looks sort of like a Muppet movie. But don’t call Happytime Murders Muppets because that was sold to Disney and they’ll come suing. Still, this is a genuine legendary Jim Henson Company production so the sheen of legitimacy still clings even when puppets are being brutally murdered with stuffing flying everywhere.

Phil (Bill Barretta) is a puppet private investigator making his way in the world where puppets are second class citizens. Trying desperately to earn a living ever since he was discharged from the police force, Phil picks up a job from an attractive puppet, Sandra (Dorien Davies). One day several puppets are killed in a porn shop and one is a member of the Happytime Gang TV show. Soon, more Happytime Gang actors end up dead, even Phil’s own brother, and his ex-girlfriend, the human Jenny (Elizabeth Banks), is at risk. Begrudgingly, he is teamed with his former partner, Detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy), to try to solve these murders before it is too late.

Barretta’s performance as Phil the puppet is amusingly hard boiled noir. He’s a seen it all PI which isn’t doing anything different with the noir character trope but just the fact that it’s a puppet makes things automatically more amusing. He’s also rather annoyed with how shoddily humans treat puppets, like when he’s being worked over in prison by two goons and he points out that he doesn’t have any bones so punching him is basically just like fluffing a pillow.

Free from not trying to be mainstream commercially appealing, McCarthy is a lot funnier when she just acts like a sugar addled reprobate jerk. Connie had a puppet liver transplant so, like puppets that are addicted, she needs sugar as a narcotics fix, downing pints of syrup in the morning. This is one of several hard boiled noir detective story conceits that have a puppet twist. Basically having McCarthy holler at a puppet angrily is still surprisingly funny. Although any attempts to have an emotional connection with her puppet partner are constantly undermined by the movie itself since it’s not taking itself seriously.

As is required in detective noir, there are various dangerous ladies tempting Phil. Banks plays the stripper with a heart of gold cliché, having fallen from the limelight over her prime TV gig years ago. Banks doesn’t get to do too much however one bit where she dances for a bunch of puppet rabbits is amusing and she gets to go completely wild in her final scenes. The other woman Phil has to romantically deal with is Sandra, a self-confessed sex addict which leads to some really strange stuff especially a riff on the iconic interrogation scene of Basic Instinct. 

As the stressed police chief, Leslie David Baker is basically just doing exposition and giving Phil and Connie their marching orders but he does annoyed really well. Joel McHale plays a smarmy FBI agent who is there for Phil and Connie to make fun of. As Phil’s secretary, Maya Rudolph gets some enjoyably low key responses like as she plays it completely straight faced as Phil is loudly getting it on with Sandra.

Henson gets some comedic millage out of having puppets that look sort of like the Muppets do raunchy stuff. There are some incredibly weird sight gags, like an octopus milking a cow or two inbred freak puppets. The death scenes for the puppets are hilariously graphic as stuffing flying everywhere seems oddly messy. When a puppet gets literally torn apart by three dogs it is uproarious since it’s extremely violent. Later the cops find a puppet left under a pier and it’s waterlogged body washed up which is incredibly bizarre.

The best stuff in Happytime Murders basically involves going as extremely raunchy as it can get. There are a few good zingers in here, like when a bunny is discovered at the porn shop and he immediately snaps “I don’t have a crippling addiction to porn!”  Also the discovery of one of the Happytime cast in a sewer drug den is darkly great. It is a testament to the Muppet design that it can be stretched in such extremely weird out-there ways. The Henson Company sold the Muppet characters to Disney but the basic Muppet design is still something the Henson workshop creates.        

This definitely succeeds in being distinct from any puppet movie ever made. While the film could have added some variations on the hard boiled noir detective template, just the fact these things are done by puppets makes it instantly funnier. The Happytime Murders may a bit one note in its gags but it gets by on simply being weird as hell.