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A disgraced former LAPD detective is thrown in the midst of a murder spree targeting the cast of a cultural boundary-breaking show. He and his disgruntled ex-partner track down the culprit in the seedy underbelly of the city all the while struggling against the prejudicial ideas about their respective people. Sounds deadly serious, except that the gumshoe and the victims happen to be puppets. Hi-jinks ensue.
"The Happytime Murders" feels less like the outrageous good time it should of been and more a cavalcade of missed opportunities. Sin number one is that this is not necessarily a fresh concept. Movies like "Who Killed Roger Rabbit?" and "Meet The Feebles" have touched on similar concepts in far better fashion. Sin number two, it often eschews clever or subversive humor for straightforward comedy despite having fertile material to work with. Sin number three: it believes that overt vulgarity and profanity are ALWAYS legitimate laugh instigators. This proves to be its most misguided failure.
Don't get me wrong, there is nothing offensive here (not that I would find much offensive) but dialogue feels hammered out with the bluntest of instruments. There exists no nuance, no sly takes, no dexterous use of the concept to lampoon something relevant to the viewer. It seemed to be aiming at loftier goals (and thus a richer source of laughs) when it made the puppet's social state that of second-class citizens but it drops that pretense early on an just kind of let's it linger in the background.
In its place we get a relentless smorgasbord of lewd acts, the word "fuck", and crude jokes. There's nothing inherently wrong with that but this movie suffers from a severe unbalance when it comes to its gags. It seems dead set on trying to push the limits of good taste but all it really achieves is making you remember why this type of humor ages so badly. And, honestly, if you're going to take things far then do it with unrepentant gusto. This movie just kinda tippy-toes around familiar areas when it comes to its tasteless japes. Meanwhile, you see ample opportunities for socially topical humor, self-aware noir genre jests, and ample culture clash wisecracks just flutter on by untouched.
Not all is a loss, however. The puppet work is awesome and Bill Barretta as the lead puppet is downright good at what he does. If you hang on for someone it's him. Actually, the whole affair is relatively watchable and entertaining enough when the film is not trying (key word: trying) to be repulsive or needlessly over the top. Had it not plumbed the depths of the comic toilet so ineptly it would of been a fairly decent watch albeit a forgettable one.
Ultimately, one wonders what this concept could have been in much more capable hands. It put itself in a corner by cutting its comic appeal in half from the get go with its clumsy attempts at crassness and polished itself off by being quite unremarkable. Did I hate myself for watching it? No. Will I ever watch it again? Definitely not.
