Review | The Happytime Murders review: worst film in years mixes sex and puppets in awful adult comedy
Why Melissa McCarthy and Elizabeth Banks chose to appear in such a tasteless film is almost as much a mystery as why Brian Henson, son of Muppets creator Jim, decided to direct it. A stinking t*rd all round
0/5 stars
People are strange, as Jim Morrison once sang, but it must have taken someone particularly perverse to come up with The Happytime Murders, an execrable adult sex comedy that features oversexed muppet-like characters interacting with human actors.
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Vulgarity can be amusing, but the sight of these foul-mouthed puppets engaging in passionate sex and then spewing their produce over walls, mirrors and any human characters who happen to be in the way is sickening. This is easily the worst film to play in theatres in years.
The Raymond Chandler-esque detective tale takes place in a world in which puppets and humans coexist. Phil Phillips (voiced by Bill Barretta) is a puppet private eye who has teamed up with a tough LAPD human policewoman (Melissa McCarthy) to find out who is murdering the puppet cast of a classic TV show.
There are lots of near-pornographic scenes of puppets having sex, and a plenitude of foul language. The film is, bizarrely, directed by Brian Henson (son of Muppets creator Jim), who previously directed The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) and Muppet Treasure Island (1996).
Crude animation can work well, as evidenced by the insanely philosophical Sausage Party from 2016, and sex has been part of mainstream animation since the 1972 classic Fritz the Cat. But The Happytime Murders is simply idiotic.
Why McCarthy and Elizabeth Banks chose to appear in such a tasteless film is unclear – did they need the money that badly? Film-goers should also note that while it is often a bit of a laugh to watch bad films, there is no such fun to be had with this stinking t*rd.
The Happytime Murders opens on October 11
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