Happytime Murders Review!

While many reviews have not been kind, I think The Jim Henson Company should be very proud of The Happytime Murders. They made an honest to goodness technical marvel. The story is solid, the jokes landed, and it had the audience asking “how did they do that?”

The theater I saw it in opening night was barley packed, had a crew of annoying bros that talked throughout, and yet everyone still laughed when they were supposed to and left the theater with positive vibes. 

The critics that hated it must not have seen the trailers and were expecting some else. This was not a noir spoof, it was a full on P.I. detective comedy done about as straight as you can with puppets. 

I wonder how the reviewers that said the joke of puppets cursing got old after the first few minutes felt about comedies like The Hangover, This is the End, and American Pie?

Oh right, those fim's, filled with same time of crude humor and cursing, currently rank 79%, 83%, and 60% respectively on Rotten Tomatoes, while Happytime actually DECREASED from 25% Friday to 21% Monday. That kind of double standard is even discussed in the film itself. Thankfully the audience score jumped from 41% to 52%, but that is still not going to cut it.  

Typical of a film basted this much by critics it "bombed" at the box office this weekend making only $10 million, which is real sahem because the're so much to like about the film.

I especially loved seeing all the puppeteer cameos and the behind the scenes footage at the end. Everyone who worked on the film should be proud, especially Bill Barretta who seriously put on an Oscar worthy performance as Phil. He’s played so real that even though you know, and he’s referenced as being a puppet, you forget he actually is.

It was also nice to see puppets from various non-muppet, Henson productions used throughout - especially the dreadlocked one from City Kids! 

While it would have nice to see and get to know some of the characters (especially Goofer)  before they were killed, I understand there's only so much you can do in an hour and a half. I would have also liked to see some more Henson-y after the credits, even having the new  Ha! logo again would have been nice. 

Nitpicks aside, this movie’s been a long time coming and it was worth the wait!

Forget get what the "critics" say and go see it for yourself!