Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Elizabeth Banks, Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale, Bill Barrett (voice)
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 91 mins. Reviewed in Aug 2018
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This American action-comedy uses live actors and puppet figures to tell the story of a serial killer who is targeting a popular 1980’s children television series, called “The Happytime Gang”. More than a hundred puppets interact with humans in the film. The movie depicts a world where puppets and humans live together. It is a world where puppets are considered inferior to humans, and treated as second-class citizens, and humans dominate Society.
In the middle of this world, puppet, Phil Phillips (voiced by Bill Barrett), works as a disgraced private detective, who joins forces with ex-policewoman, Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy), to bring a vengeful, determined killer to justice. Someone is brutally murdering the cast members of “The Happytime Gang”, one by one.
Connie and Phil have worked together in the past, but not happily. They used to be friends, until an unfortunate incident severed their relationship. Now they constantly clash with each other.
Phil is sex-crazed, and an alcoholic. When it is obvious that Phil’s former flame, Jenny (Elizabeth Banks) – another cast member of “The Happytime Gang” – is the next person to be killed, personal conflicts and resentments from the past begin to surface, and the Police come to the conclusion that Phil is the likely killer. Phil goes on the run to escape capture, and eventually solves “The Happytime Murders” with the help of Detective Edwards.
This is a film that focuses on the seamy side of Los Angeles, and makes vey distinctive use of puppets. The film shows puppets swearing, drinking alcohol, using coarse language, taking drugs, behaving violently, and offering themselves for sex, and the hybrid mix of puppets and humans has justifiably earned the film a restricted MA15+ rating. The mix is cleverly executed, but unequivocally the film is not suited for viewing by young people in any way. Puppets in this film hardly ever behave in child-friendly, or likeable ways.
The creators of Sesame Street filed a lawsuit to prevent the distribution of the film, fearing that viewers might think the film is connected in someway to their show. The lawsuit was lost. Sesame Street is clean fun. This film is not. In this film, puppets behave in a world that is filthily seedy. Phil is shown happily ejaculating in an orgiastic frenzy, for example, and a puppet forces Detective Edwards to take the drug, Ecstasy, which she greatly enjoys.
In this movie, it is the combination of human and puppet work that goes to the heart of the film’s originality. Acknowledging the nature of the mix and its possible consequences, the film demonstrates very unusual movie-making, and the final credits give a hint of the sophisticated puppetry that the film was able to achieve. The movie has humans and puppets interacting seamlessly together, and very adult scripting tries to capture their seamy world.
The use of puppets doesn’t hamper, or inhibit, the comic style of Melissa McCarthy, who reacts as spontaneously to puppets as she does to humans. McCarthy typically works best by pulling the stops out in a range of comic scenarios. In this film, awkward situations pile on top of each other, and the movie accentuates the comic absurdity of them all, with McCarthy responding in an impulsive, but well-timed comic way.
This is a movie that uses puppetry to communicate strong adult coarseness, and it is a film that needs very careful scrutiny by anyone attracted by the cuteness of puppets. Should one decide to go to it, they could be exposed to clever movie-making, but puppet innocence is nowhere to be found.
Peter W. Sheehan is Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
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