By Robert Scucci | Published
As a big fan of Team America: World Police And Avenue QI was more excited when I came across The murders of HappytimeA mysterious comedy of neo-black crime with hot action with puppets, while scrolling through the Netflix catalog. I almost started to tremble when I learned that Brian Henson, the son of the legendary Jim Henson, led The murders of Happytime Because I expected a fantastic puppet design that would at the very least make his father, the OG, proud.
While I have no complaint regarding puppet movements and their voice, The murders of Happytime is ultimately a disappointment because he has everything he needs to be an effective comedy, but is constantly triggered on herself to pass his point of view.
Puppets against humans
In a world where puppets and humans are mainly separated, The murders of Happytime presents a private eye of hard puppets, Phil Phillips (Bill Barretta), a former cop who previously worked alongside the detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy).
Phil was the first puppet authorized on the police, but his mandate ended after a sloppy rescue resulted in the death of an innocent man before. Working as a solo practitioner, Phil is approached by Sandra (Dorien Davies) to understand who makes her sing for $ 350, which has no sense because she is ready to pay $ 300 per day, the more expenses, to resolve the case, when she could also have facilitated the payment of the tirelier and go to her life.
Meanwhile, members of the distribution of puppets of The HappyTime gang are slowly killed by an unknown attacker, which led to the lieutenant of banning (Leslie David Baker) by hiring Phil as a consultant to work alongside Connie, who does not want to have anything to do with him after the incident which fired him from the force in the first place.
The beats are all there
At the value of the face, The murders of Happytime To all the external signs for a solid scorching police comedy, but disintegrates in a way because there is a lack of an element that would really make a higher level satire. As Mr. Bumblypants (Kevin Clash), the brother of Phil and Star of The HappyTime gang Larry (Victor Yerrid), Lyle (Kevin Clash, once again) and Goofer (Drew Massey) are systematically destroyed in increasingly suspicious circumstances, there is no shortage of creative killing that will leave you in the points (word game), but there is simply not enough chemistry on the screen to keep this coherent energy throughout the film.
This is particularly disappointing when we learn the reason behind the murders from the start: The HappyTime gang Entering the syndication, enormous payments are about to be made to its main distribution, and someone is trying to harvest the advantages by taking their inheritance by ensuring that they never get these checks; It is an intrinsically convincing story and an extremely fun mystery to participate as a spectator.
Melissa McCarthy is perfect for the role of the detective Connie Edwards in The murders of HappytimeAnd her performance is laudable, but the energy she gives off is ultimately unrivaled by her puppet counterparts, and her superior, the lieutenant banning, which does nothing more than categorically deliver its lines. During heated exchanges and filled with blasphemies between the detective Connie Edwards and Phil Phillips, the most you will get from the Lieutenant-speech in his efforts for de-escalation of the situation is “come now”, while he should barked orders on how the mayor will have his ass if he does not do things by books, or another line of cliches that would work in this context.
Disappointing, but proof of solid concept
As much as I wanted to love The murders of HappytimeIt is simply everywhere to be pleasant. The scenes of sexually motivated puppets (you will know them when you see them) are hilarious by themselves because they are so exaggerated and disgusting, but do not necessarily advance the narration. Melissa McCarthy orders each scene in which she is, but none of her human co-stars seems to follow her example and equal her enthusiasm. And when you put all this together, you get a delivery mess and incompatible jokes that do not clean because the energy between the people who says them is incoherent.
As proof of concept, The murders of Happytime is a valiant effort, and I would like to see the cast and the crew get a second chance because there are real moments of laughter throughout the film. On this appeal, however, the whole is lower than the sum of its parts.
To date, The murders of Happytime is streaming on Netflix.
