‘The Happytime Murders’ leaves audience dead inside
By: Elijah DeVivo
Staff Writer
“The Happytime Murders,” will leave you disappointed at what turned out to be a Muppets movie gone terribly wrong.
When I first saw “The Happytime Murders” trailer, I thought it was quite humorous looking. It stars some of my favorite actresses: Elizabeth Banks and Melissa McCarthy. I had seen Elizabeth Banks in other movies and I liked her acting as well as her on screen presence. Likewise, Melissa McCarthy is one of my favorite comedians and actresses, and her previous films have been hilarious.
The setting of the movie becomes apparent quick to start: modern-day Los Angeles, in a culture made up of puppets and people. There’s forced metaphor for racial divide between the puppets and the humans.
The main star is a puppet who was a highly esteemed police officer in the community, but was later fired because of a shootout gone wrong. Throughout the movie the main character works instead as a private investigator. Melissa McCarthy’s character, on the other hand, is an honorable officer who still serves with the Los Angeles police department.
The conflict of the film is that a killer is taking out actors/actresses from the fictitious show “The Happytime Gang.” The two main characters are forced to collaborate together to solve the crime, which is reminiscent of an earlier film Melissa McCarthy starred in: The Heat.
The film had a few funny sports, but overall, it was vulgar, sexually explicit (to the point where you cringed and closed your eyes) and overall uncomfortable to watch. Needless to say, it is definitely a film worth of its “R” rating. Another thing that irked me about the movie was the fact that Elizabeth Banks, who was “starring” in the movie, had only five minutes of time on screen… I’m not even exaggerating.
To sum up the movie; it wasn’t terrible, but it definitely wasn’t good. The ending was very cliché and warm and fuzzy, it almost felt like I was watching a tacky Hallmark commercial.
The movie received a twenty-two percent from Rotten Tomatoes, and magazine “Vanity Fair,” alleges that this may be the worst film of the year–and I have to concur. It is incredibly graphic, way too sexually explicit, and flat out bizarre. When my friends and I left the theatre we couldn’t help but think “what on earth did we just watch?”
I couldn’t help but feel let down, and that I spent my money on something completely disappointing and head scratching.
Instead of going to the theaters to see this film I’d suggest waiting for it to go to Redbox and then spend a dollar to rent it out, and even then it may not be worth the effort. This is one of those films that you should just steer clear from.