Movie Review: “The Happytime Murders” is a case of brilliant puppetry let down by an undercooked script

Movie Review: “The Happytime Murders” (R)

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this wildly irreverent and less inspired fusion of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Meet the Feebles” is knowing how truly great it could have been had the creative folks behind it spent more time putting together a real script before setting out to shoot this thing. The premise here is a little obvious and painfully one-note. That said, the puppetry on display is pretty spectacular, and many of the jokes, while often gross (fans of silly string beware), are considerably funnier than the low Rotten Tomatoes score would have you believe. On the other hand, that might just be my juvenile inner self talking.

“The Happytime Murders” imagines a world where humans and puppets coexist. The noir/murder mystery-inspired plot is set into motion when a mysterious killer begins picking off puppet cast members of a one-time hugely successful ’80s television program called “The Happytime Gang.” Eventually, puppet private investigator and disgraced former police officer Phil Philips (voiced by Bill Barretta) joins forces with his blowhard of an ex-partner (played by Melissa McCarthy) to bring this murderer to justice. As this bickering duo dig deeper and deeper into the case, their investigation eventually takes them from a city populated with racist humans to a seedy underground puppet world where — you guessed it — some puppets act just as badly as some people do.

“The Happytime Murders” was directed by Brian Henson (son of Jim), the man behind 1996’s “Muppet Treasure Island” and a storyteller who is no stranger to puppet-headlined feature films. It’s clear that with “The Happytime Murders,” Henson and his crew of of genius (and slightly depraved) puppeteers are dying to show audiences a side of puppets that they’ve never seen. It’s also safe to say that this is a side of puppets a lot of you may not want to see. Translation: There’s a reason for the R rating, folks.

For all the dirty hijinx, foul language, puppet gore, and fluff fornication, though, there are actually some clever moments in this picture. At the very least, “The Happytime Murders” showcases plenty of dazzling puppetry. Highlights include a puppet in a hot tub and multiple scenes in which a chain-smoking Philips enjoys extended exhaling time.

Speaking of Phil Philips, he proves to be quite the leading … man, a sort of bluish fusion of Frank Drebin and Philip Marlowe. Too bad the same can’t be said for Melissa McCarthy, who plays the proceedings like Nick Nolte in “48 Hours” only minus the grizzled charm. It’s unfortunate, because McCarthy can be extremely funny (see “Spy”). But here, most of her work feels labored and bordering on obnoxious. Granted, when you’re working alongside an ace performer like Phil Philips, it’s easy to be upstaged.

The film also features Elizabeth Banks as an ex-children’s-show-star-turned-stripper, Maya Rudolph as a goofy but lovable secretary with a crush on Philips, Leslie David Baker as a stern police lieutenant, and Joel McHale as a weaselly cop. Of course, it’s the puppets who steal the movie — most notably Philips, sex-addicted femme fatale Sandra White, and a sugar junkie called Goofer.

Tonally, the film jumps from irreverent humor to slapstick to straight-up seriousness, and sometimes the tonal switches are jarring and out of place. In fact, some of this stuff — including a plot thread that delves into why Philips left the force — feels a little mean-spirited for a film of this nature. At other times, “The Happytime Murders” plays like an undercooked carbon copy of the sort of stuff writer Shane Black excelled at in the late ’80s and early ’90s (“Lethal Weapon,” “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” “The Last Boy Scout”).

Ultimately, “The Happytime Murders” is unable to measure up to the films that inspired it (this includes “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,” “Meet the Feebles,” and even “Team America: World Police”) because it simply can’t quite manage to break free of its one-joke premise. That said, there are a handful of gags that do work, and again, the outstanding puppetry is virtually worth the price of admission alone! Henson and crew even pull back the curtain a bit during an end-credits behind-the-scenes reel and show how they pulled some of this magic off. Here’s hoping that if and when they set out to make another puppet film, that magic extends from the puppetry to the script.

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