For years moviegoers have had to deal with what I call the "preview problem,", a term I just pulled out of my nether regions. The preview problem is easy to explain: the folks that make movie previews have one job and one job only, and that is to sell the film they are advertising. The trouble begins with the fact that they have gotten very good at this. It doesn't matter the quality or type of film or even if you end up liking it or not. These guys could not care less about audiences' opinions if they came in a book labeled "The Picture Book of Colonoscopies." As soon as those butts are comfortably ensconced in theater seats their job is done. And they will go to some pretty far lengths in order get that essential opening weekend box office moolah: From showing scenes that are not actually in the finished film to giving a completely wrong expectation of the movie in question.
And so, with come to The Happytimes Murders, a film that overpromises and disappoints worst than a teenage boy on prom night. On its face, the premise presented on the trailer is almost genius in its simplicity. What if we had a Muppets movie for adults? The analogy is not entirely glib being the movie was directed by the revered Jim Henson's own son, Brian, making his feature-length debut. By all expectations this should have been if not a hilarious sleeper hit, then at the very least, a little funny.
It is not.
What went wrong? It's not the fact the writers throw every tired old detective movie cliché at the screen in an attempt to remake "The Maltese Falcon" with puppets and foul language. And it is also not the issue that, as shown in the trailer, puppets simulating sex is NOT inherently funny. Team America proved that premise could be hilarious that 14 years ago. No, the trouble is that the writers et al. forgot that what makes Muppets, cartoons and marionettes interesting in the first place is that they live by their own set of rules. Consider the classic "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" Cartoons living in a human world but following cartoon rules. Putting puppets in a human world, obeying human rules misses the point of puppets completely and makes for a film that annoys rather than entertain. If anything, this just proves that you can't just throw a bunch of curse words and sex jokes and expect a hit.
But even all that could be forgiven if the film didn't commit the worst sin of all and that is misusing a particular stellar cast of comedians. Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale, Elizabeth Banks and Michael McDonald have maybe 3 minutes of funny screen time between them. And while ostensibly the film is about a murder mystery, not making Melissa McCarthy funny is the real crime here.
And so, with come to The Happytimes Murders, a film that overpromises and disappoints worst than a teenage boy on prom night. On its face, the premise presented on the trailer is almost genius in its simplicity. What if we had a Muppets movie for adults? The analogy is not entirely glib being the movie was directed by the revered Jim Henson's own son, Brian, making his feature-length debut. By all expectations this should have been if not a hilarious sleeper hit, then at the very least, a little funny.
It is not.
What went wrong? It's not the fact the writers throw every tired old detective movie cliché at the screen in an attempt to remake "The Maltese Falcon" with puppets and foul language. And it is also not the issue that, as shown in the trailer, puppets simulating sex is NOT inherently funny. Team America proved that premise could be hilarious that 14 years ago. No, the trouble is that the writers et al. forgot that what makes Muppets, cartoons and marionettes interesting in the first place is that they live by their own set of rules. Consider the classic "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" Cartoons living in a human world but following cartoon rules. Putting puppets in a human world, obeying human rules misses the point of puppets completely and makes for a film that annoys rather than entertain. If anything, this just proves that you can't just throw a bunch of curse words and sex jokes and expect a hit.
But even all that could be forgiven if the film didn't commit the worst sin of all and that is misusing a particular stellar cast of comedians. Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale, Elizabeth Banks and Michael McDonald have maybe 3 minutes of funny screen time between them. And while ostensibly the film is about a murder mystery, not making Melissa McCarthy funny is the real crime here.