210.
The Happytime Murders
5.5/10
We are stepping into a crazy alternate reality where puppets, who know they are puppets, live alongside humans. The puppets though are treated as a marginalised group for their troubles. The trailers for this movie make it look like something that is a step above. A cross between Who Framed Roger Rabbit due to the investigators and The Muppets, which is mainly because the same producers are involved. With a cast of Melissa Macarthy, Elizabeth Banks and Maya Rudolph, each has had their own success in someone's eyes. It always leaves you wondering whether the best parts have been shown in the trailers to get the audiences through the doors, so let find out. Let's find out if we are being taken for muppets.
The story follows our usual detective narrative of 'who dun'it?'. We follow a disgraced cop named Phil Phillips who must team up with his old partner played by Mellisa Macarthy. They used to work together until Connie, Macarthy's character was held at gunpoint and Phil had to save her, failing and instead, killing an innocent puppet on the sidewalk in front of his own daughter. This lead to Connie signing a petition to stop Puppets ever becoming cops again. From there Phil turned into a private detective in a seedy office.
The main story follows a group of old tv hosts, all puppets who get murdered one by one, leading to an investigation and Phil needing to get involved due to a cross over with his own job, a side mission/storyline which is for a female puppet named Sandra White. She fears for her life after a serious of threatening letters. This character is over the top sexually teasing and Phil can't control himself. This leads to a crazy and at first, a funny sex scene between the two, which then becomes a little cringeworthy.
It reminded me of the scene from Team America all those years ago. This is a running theme as things start to get a little cringy. We are introduced to Phil's actual love interest, played by Banks and the pair of Connie and Phil begin to try to solve the case, but begin failing miserably. Phil even gets set up for killing his old love interest. She is now the wife of Sandra, in a full circle move and Sandra blames Phil for the death. Connie must prove that her old partner is innocent as their relationship is now growing strong once more. She heads to Sandra's apartment where she finds a hidden room full of plans to from Phil. It turns out she truly has a motive. She was the daughter of the man shot dead by Phil. Although it was an accident, just like every woman in history, she never let him forget about it. Connie grabs Phil and they head to the airport to stop Sandra together. He tries to apologise for his mistake but it falls on deaf ears. It turns out that Jenny, Banks' character is still alive too. A staged death to set up Phil but Sandra knocks her out to steal some money for herself. Connie is taken at gunpoint and Phil is put in the same position as he was years before. This time he doesn't miss and Sandra's fluffy brains are everywhere.
They are both reinstated as partners and Phil even asks her old assistant from the Private Detective agency, played by Maya Rudolph, out on a date.
I couldn't wait to see what this movie had in store when I had seen the trailers but in fairness, it far from lived up to the potential. The storyline was a normal crime drama with all of the humour added in, which at times, became a little bit tedious. There were some clever twists nonetheless but nothing that would stick and get you saying, 'yeah, great movie'. Not too sure what you can say about the acting with 50% of it being voice acting. I enjoyed the dryness of Phil's character but there is something about Macarthy that I far from enjoy. It always seems forced humour and that for me is never a winner. If you are after some slap-stick comedy, over the top humour and needless crass, then this is for you. In my opinion, it had to tools to be up there with Rodger Rabbit and Team America but it did more than fall short.
The story follows our usual detective narrative of 'who dun'it?'. We follow a disgraced cop named Phil Phillips who must team up with his old partner played by Mellisa Macarthy. They used to work together until Connie, Macarthy's character was held at gunpoint and Phil had to save her, failing and instead, killing an innocent puppet on the sidewalk in front of his own daughter. This lead to Connie signing a petition to stop Puppets ever becoming cops again. From there Phil turned into a private detective in a seedy office.
The main story follows a group of old tv hosts, all puppets who get murdered one by one, leading to an investigation and Phil needing to get involved due to a cross over with his own job, a side mission/storyline which is for a female puppet named Sandra White. She fears for her life after a serious of threatening letters. This character is over the top sexually teasing and Phil can't control himself. This leads to a crazy and at first, a funny sex scene between the two, which then becomes a little cringeworthy.
It reminded me of the scene from Team America all those years ago. This is a running theme as things start to get a little cringy. We are introduced to Phil's actual love interest, played by Banks and the pair of Connie and Phil begin to try to solve the case, but begin failing miserably. Phil even gets set up for killing his old love interest. She is now the wife of Sandra, in a full circle move and Sandra blames Phil for the death. Connie must prove that her old partner is innocent as their relationship is now growing strong once more. She heads to Sandra's apartment where she finds a hidden room full of plans to from Phil. It turns out she truly has a motive. She was the daughter of the man shot dead by Phil. Although it was an accident, just like every woman in history, she never let him forget about it. Connie grabs Phil and they head to the airport to stop Sandra together. He tries to apologise for his mistake but it falls on deaf ears. It turns out that Jenny, Banks' character is still alive too. A staged death to set up Phil but Sandra knocks her out to steal some money for herself. Connie is taken at gunpoint and Phil is put in the same position as he was years before. This time he doesn't miss and Sandra's fluffy brains are everywhere.
They are both reinstated as partners and Phil even asks her old assistant from the Private Detective agency, played by Maya Rudolph, out on a date.
I couldn't wait to see what this movie had in store when I had seen the trailers but in fairness, it far from lived up to the potential. The storyline was a normal crime drama with all of the humour added in, which at times, became a little bit tedious. There were some clever twists nonetheless but nothing that would stick and get you saying, 'yeah, great movie'. Not too sure what you can say about the acting with 50% of it being voice acting. I enjoyed the dryness of Phil's character but there is something about Macarthy that I far from enjoy. It always seems forced humour and that for me is never a winner. If you are after some slap-stick comedy, over the top humour and needless crass, then this is for you. In my opinion, it had to tools to be up there with Rodger Rabbit and Team America but it did more than fall short.
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