‘The Happytime Murders’ is really shocking, but it’s also quite funny

Posted on August 31, 2018

By MARK VIOLA

As a kid, I was much more inclined to watch the “Muppet Babies” cartoon than I was the actual “Muppets” films or re-runs of the television show. Still, I can’t imagine there aren’t many people out there unfamiliar with Jim Henson’s creations, including Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, the Swedish Chef and more.

The “Muppets” show especially pushed the edge of children’s comedy, pulling off the “Shrek” trick, years before that film made it trendy to sprinkle in humor for the adults in the audience that would pass harmlessly over the heads of children.

For the past decade, however, Brian Henson, Jim’s son and director of “Muppet Treasure Island” and “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” has tried to take the land of puppets straight into the world of adult humor. Of course, he’s not the first, as there have been a few films and television series that have tried the same, as well as the Broadway musical, “Avenue Q,” which had to include a disclaimer that it was in no way affiliated with the Jim Henson Company.

Now, after years of trying, Brian Henson has completed his film, “The Happytime Murders,” which is more or less the equivalent of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” if you replaced cartoon characters with puppets and cranked up the content into the hard-R territory.

The film does suffer from the same thing facing most movies created by people who have felt hemmed in by censors and content codes who suddenly find themselves free of any constraint. There’s plenty of shocking moments that are there simply to be shocking. And those moments are easy to identify. Screenwriter Todd Berger does a good job of making sure even the most shocking moments are at least somewhat tied into the script. Most of my other issues with the film have nothing to do with its rating or the puppets, but instead with the mystery, which had a few holes that can’t be explained away even after the answers are given in the end.

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