The Happytime Murders Review

Great film noir tribute, but 90% of the funny scenes were shown in the trailers.
6 Plot: Great story with a film noir feel. Humor was lacking, most of what you see in the trailer.
9 Acting: Great job by all, Maya Rudolph stole the show.
7 Directing: Brian Henson does a good job bringing the gritty.
7 Pacing: The pacing was fine, moved along rather nicely.
7.3

Here’s the premise:  A murder mystery set in a world where humans and puppets co-exist, but puppets are viewed as second-class citizens. When the puppet cast of an ’80s children’s TV show begins to get murdered one by one, a former cop, who has since become a private eye, takes on the case.

Directed by Brian Henson, Jim Henson’s son; THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS is a very adult version of the Muppets, taking on murder, sex, and drugs. I was both delighted and disappointed in the movie, first the thing the film did right was it was a true film noir which is a genre I love. With the voice over from the detective and the gritty (albeit with puppets) death scenes, it was fun to see a film noir played out this way, and the story was pretty decent. The murder mystery was fun to unravel and the tip of the hat to old movies was fun to point out.

The disappointing part for me was the humor, there was plenty of it, but most of it was shown in the previews for the movie, this always bothers me when comedies do this. There were a few funny gems that were saved for the movie, but very few.

McCarthy did a great job, as did all the cast; I loved Maya Rudolph as Bubbles, the detective’s secretary; she absolutely stole the show for me.

I recommend seeing the movie, but remember it IS NOT a kid’s movie, please leave the rugrats at home and enjoy a fun adult filled date night.

Michael Trichel

Price
Taste
Presentation
Atmosphere

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