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The Happytime Murders

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The Happytime Murders
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBrian Henson
Screenplay byTodd Berger
Story by
  • Todd Berger
  • Dee Austin Robertson
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMitchell Amundsen
Edited byBrian Scott Olds
Music byChristopher Lennertz
Production
companies
Distributed bySTX Entertainment
Release date
  • August 24, 2018 (2018-08-24) (United States)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40–47 million[1]
Box office$21.2 million[2]

The Happytime Murders is a 2018 American black comedy crime film directed by Brian Henson and written by Todd Berger. The film stars Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale, Elizabeth Banks, and Bill Barretta as Phil Phillips. The plot follows a world where puppets and humans co-exist, and a joint police force must solve a recent murder spree of retired sitcom stars.

The film was first announced in 2008 by The Jim Henson Company, the production studio of Muppets creator Jim Henson. Various actors, including Cameron Diaz, Katherine Heigl, and Jamie Foxx, were approached to star before McCarthy signed on in May 2017. Filming began in Los Angeles that September, and involved the use of over 120 puppets. The release marks the film debut of Henson Alternative, a banner of The Jim Henson Company that specializes in adult content.

The Happytime Murders was released on August 24, 2018, by STXfilms. It received generally unfavorable reviews from critics, who felt that it "waste[d] its intriguingly transgressive premise."

Plot

In a world where puppets coexist with humans, but are reviled by humans and considered inferior, Phil Phillips is a puppet who lives in Los Angeles, and was the first puppet cop on the LAPD before being fired. Now working as a private detective with his human secretary Bubbles, Phil is approached by puppet client Sandra, and is hired to find out who has been blackmailing her. While looking for a lead at a puppet owned porn-shop, Phil goes in the back to check the records. When Phil is gone, an unknown attacker comes in and kills everyone present, and it is revealed one of the customers, Bumblypants, is a cast member from “The Happytime Gang”, a popular puppet sitcom from the 90s that was due to go into syndication.

After the LAPD arrive at the crime scene, Philips meets up with his former partner, Detective Connie Edwards, with whom he had a falling out. Twelve years ago, Edwards was being held at gunpoint by a puppet criminal, and Phil tried to shoot him, but he missed and hit an innocent puppet, killing him in front of his young daughter. The thug shot Edwards, but she killed him before he got away. The gunshot wound nearly proved fatal for Edwards, who was left with a puppet liver as a result of a transplant when a puppet clinic was the closest available medical treatment facility after she was shot. Left with an addiction to sugar- which is essentially like heroin to puppets- Edwards later testified against Phil, and he was thrown off the force, with a law put in place to prevent puppets from being cops.

At present time, Edwards believes it was a robbery gone wrong, but Phil notes that it was just murder because the assailant didn't take anything. That night, Larry Shenanigans, former Happytime cast-member and Phil’s brother, is torn apart when someone lets a group of dogs into his house. Enraged, Philips reluctantly teams up with Edwards at the request of Lt. Banning to find the killer.

Believing the killer may be targeting members of "The Happytime Gang", and discovering that the contract for syndication promises the royalty money to surviving family members, the two track down former cast member Lyle, who is now a drug lord, dealing in sugar, only for him to be killed in a drive-by shooting in front of Philips. The next day, Philips goes to see Jenny, the only human member of "The Happytime Gang" and his former girlfriend, at a puppet strip club where she now works. However, Philips is unable to protect her when her car explodes, seemingly killing her. The police arrive and see Phil leave the scene, believing him to be responsible for the murders.

Phil hides out at Edwards' apartment, and the two discover that another former Happytime Gang member, Goofer, now a homeless sugar addict, has been found dead under a pier after supposedly overdosing and falling over into the ocean. The two head out of town to find the two remaining Happytime Gang members, Ezra and Cara, also known as the Kissing Cousins. Phil and Edwards head to their house and come across Ezra and Cara's mangled bodies inside. The killer gets away, and the FBI shows up with other agents to arrest Phil and Edwards.

Phil is shown Sandra in an interrogation room, who lies and says that Phil killed Jenny and the others, and was trying to keep Sandra for himself, also revealing that she was Jenny's wife. The FBI detains Philips afterward and after arguing with FBI agent Campbell, Edwards is suspended from duty. Bubbles finds Edwards in her apartment to ask for her help in proving Phil's innocence. She has Sandra's home address, and they break into her place to find any info they can. They come across a hidden room with pictures and notes planning the deaths of the Happytime Gang, as well as a whole conspiracy against Phil. Edwards then notices a picture of Jasper Jakoby, the puppet man who Phil accidentally shot years ago. Edwards realizes that Sandra is Jasper's daughter, and she has been planning revenge against Phil for her father's death. Bubbles sees a tape recorder and presses the play button, which ignites a fire that destroys all the evidence against Sandra. Edwards goes to tell Phil what she's learned, and she breaks Phil out of jail to stop Sandra.

Phil and Edwards make it to the airport, where Sandra is planning to depart with all the royalty money, due to her status as Jenny's spouse leaving her the sole surviving heir to the money. Phil runs up to her and tries to apologize for killing her father, saying it has haunted him all those years, but he asks why the Happytime Gang had to die because of it. Sandra says she wanted Phil to suffer as payback. It also turns out that Jenny is alive, having faked her death, and is in cahoots with Sandra, but Sandra instead knocks Jenny out to take the money for herself and get away after Philips reveals her true history. Edwards runs after Sandra and tries to get in her plane, but Sandra gets the drop on her first and holds her at gunpoint. She steps outside with Edwards, putting her and Phil in the same position as before. Phil takes his shot and doesn't miss this time, hitting Sandra in the head and killing her.

Banning arrives to congratulate Phil and Edwards on cracking the case. He restores Edwards to active duty and convinces the mayor to have the law against puppet cops repealed, welcoming Phil back on the force. Phil also asks Bubbles out on a date, and she accepts.

Cast

Humans

  • Melissa McCarthy as Detective Connie Edwards, Phil’s ex-partner.
  • Maya Rudolph as Bubbles, Phil’s secretary.
  • Joel McHale as Agent Campbell, a stern FBI agent.
  • Elizabeth Banks as Jenny Peterson, a burlesque dancer and Phil's ex-girlfriend, who was the sole human cast member of The Happytime Gang.
  • Leslie David Baker as Lt. Banning, a police lieutenant who is Edwards' superior.
  • Cynthy Wu as Brittenie Marlowe, Larry Shenanigans’ girlfriend.
  • Michael McDonald as Ronovan Scargle, the CEO of the television company that produced and aired The Happytime Gang.
  • Mitch Silpa as Tommy, a criminal who sells puppet parts on the black market.
  • Hemky Madera as Tito, a criminal who purchases puppet parts on the black market.
  • Jimmy O. Yang as Officer Delancey, a police officer.
  • Ryan Gaul as Officer Milligan, a police officer.
  • Fortune Feimster as Robin, a fan of The Happytime Gang.
  • Ben Falcone as Donny
  • Patty Gugenheimer as the voice of Roxy.
  • Damon Jones as the voice of a puppet doctor that refuses to operate on Connie.

Puppeteers

  • Bill Barretta as Phil Philips, a disgraced ex-cop who is now a private investigator. He was the first puppet to become a police officer, but was fired from the force.
    • Barretta also performs Junkyard and Boar.
  • Dorien Davies as Sandra White (née Jakoby), a puppet who asks Phil to investigate a case for her while having a secret motive.
  • Kevin Clash as Lyle, an actor on The Happytime Gang who played a sports coach and is now a powerful drug lord.
    • Clash also performs Mr. Bumblypants, a rabbit actor on The Happytime Gang who played a mail carrier and now has a pornography addiction.
  • Drew Massey as Goofer, an actor of indeterminate species on The Happytime Gang who played a handyman and is now homeless and addicted to sugar, which is like heroin to puppets.
    • Massey also performs Vinny, a vulture who works at a sex shop.
  • Ted Michaels as Ezra, an actor on The Happytime Gang and Cara’s twin brother.
    • Michaels also performs a sexist thug.
  • Colleen Smith as Cara, an actress on The Happytime Gang and Ezra’s twin sister.
    • Smith also performs a Dalmatian and Carol.
  • Alice Dinnean and Donna Kimball as Sheila and Diane (the "Rotten Cotten Girls"), two puppet prostitutes.
    • Kimball also performs Cow, a cow at a sex shop, and Roxy
  • Brian Henson as Crab, a red crab in a beach trash can.
  • Allan Trautman as Octopus, an octopus.
    • Trautman also performs the puppet doctor.
  • Victor Yerrid as Larry Shenanigans Philips, Phil's older brother and an actor on The Happytime Gang who played a police officer.
    • Yerrid also performs an Old Man.

In addition, Henson makes an on screen-cameo in a photograph in Connie's apartment.

Production

Concept art depicting Phil, the grizzled central puppet character

Announced in 2008 as being in development at The Jim Henson Company,[3] the film was picked up two years later by Lionsgate with a targeted January 2011 start date.[4] At the time, Cameron Diaz had been offered a lead role in the film.[5] Diaz dropped out and Katherine Heigl entered into talks to replace her.[6]

In July 2015, it was announced that STX Entertainment had picked up the film rights to The Happytime Murders (Lionsgate having lost them) and put the film in active development with script revisions by Erich and Jon Hoeber.[7] In April 2016, Jamie Foxx entered negotiations to star in the film.[8] In May 2017, it was revealed that Melissa McCarthy had signed on to star in the film as well as contribute minor, uncredited rewrites of the film's screenplay.[9] This was followed by Maya Rudolph being added in August[9] and in September, Elizabeth Banks,[10] puppeteer Bill Barretta,[11] and Joel McHale[12] all officially joined the cast.

Principal photography on the film began in Los Angeles, California on September 11, 2017.[10] The film had a production budget in the range of $40–47 million, with McCarthy getting paid between $10–17.5 million for her role.[1]

There are a total of 125 puppets in the film, with 40 specifically created for it .[13] To accommodate the puppeteers, all of the sets were built up so that the puppeteers could stand on the floor, since their optimum way to operate the puppets is if they are standing with straight arms. Because the floor of the sets came up in pieces, the human actors had a two-foot margin to stay on their path.[13]

Release

The Happytime Murders was released to cinemas by STX Entertainment on August 24, 2018.[14] The film was originally going to be released on August 17, 2018 but was pushed back a week.[15]

The first official red-band trailer was released on May 18, 2018, with select screenings of Deadpool 2.[16][17]

Reception

Box office

As of September 2, 2018, The Happytime Murders has grossed $17 million in the United States and Canada, and $2.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $19.3 million.[2]

In the United States and Canada, The Happytime Murders was released alongside A.X.L., and was projected to gross $13–15 million from 3,225 theaters in its opening weekend.[18] The film made $950,000 from Thursday night previews, better than the $700,000 made by McCarthy's Life of the Party three months prior. It went on to debut to $9.5 million, marking the lowest solo opening of McCarthy's career.[1] It fell 54% in its second weekend to $4.4 million, finishing eighth.[19]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 23% based on 190 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Happytime Murders wastes its intriguingly transgressive premise on a witless comedy that blindly pushes buttons instead of attempting to tell an entertaining story."[20] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 27 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[21] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C–" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest of McCarthy's career, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an "awful" 58% overall positive score.[1]

Sarah Melton from Exclaim! gave the film a rating of 2/10, saying, "The Happytime Murders hardly feels like a fitting extension of Henson's muppet legacy. Not because it's thoroughly vulgar and dirty, but because that's all it is."[22] Jess Fenton for Switch wrote "...I adored the concept, I loved the cast, the fact that this was directed by Jim Henson’s son made me giddy, and yet... I did not like this movie. Hate is too strong a word, however I was deeply disappointed, underwhelmed, my sides were left unsplit."[23]

Lawsuit

In May 2018, Sesame Workshop, the organization behind the production of the television series Sesame Street, filed a lawsuit against STX Productions for using their trademark in a film they have no involvement with, including the tagline "No Sesame, all Street". They alleged that associating a children’s program with an adult comedy would smear the former's reputation as well as confuse individuals. In response, STX issued a statement indicating their persistence to keep the marketing for the film unchanged.[24][25] On May 30, 2018, the lawsuit was rejected by the presiding judge for the case, with STX issuing a brief statement soon thereafter:

“We fluffing love Sesame Street and we're obviously very pleased that the ruling reinforced what STX's intention was from the very beginning — to honor the heritage of The Jim Henson Company's previous award-winning creations while drawing a clear distinction between any Muppets or Sesame Street characters and the new world Brian Henson and team created. We believe we accomplished that with the very straightforward NO SESAME, ALL STREET tagline. We look forward to continued happytimes as we prepare to release Happytime Murders this summer.”[26]

Some TV spots for the film had since made references to the lawsuit by starting the ads with "From the studio that was sued by Sesame Street...".[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c d D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 26, 2018). "'Why 'Happytime Murders' Reps A Solo Career B.O. Low For Melissa McCarthy In A 'Crazy Rich' Weekend – Update". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "The Happytime Murders". The Numbers. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  3. ^ Sciretta, Peter (October 15, 2008). "Happytime Murders - A Muppet Noir". /Film. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  4. ^ Graham, Bill (October 12, 2010). "Lionsgate Picks Up Dark Jim Henson Co. Puppet Film HAPPYTIME MURDERS". Collider. Complex Media. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  5. ^ Graham, Bill (November 9, 2010). "Cameron Diaz Offered Role in Dark Henson Puppet Film THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS". Collider. Complex Media. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  6. ^ Chitwood, Adam (February 3, 2012). "Katherine Heigl Up for Film Noir Puppet Comedy THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS; Al Pacino Set as Villain in DESPICABLE ME 2". Collider. Complex Media. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  7. ^ Kit, Borys (July 7, 2015). "Jim Henson's Crime Puppet Movie Finds New Home at STX". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  8. ^ Busch, Anita (April 27, 2016). "Jamie Foxx Negotiating To Star In 'The Happytime Murders' At STX". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  9. ^ a b McNary, Dave (August 23, 2017). "Maya Rudolph to Reunite With Melissa McCarthy in 'Happytime Murders'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Hipes, Patrick (September 13, 2017). "Elizabeth Banks Joins Gang For 'The Happytime Murders'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  11. ^ Lee, Ashley (September 13, 2017). "Elizabeth Banks Joins STX's Puppet Comedy 'Happytime Murders'". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  12. ^ Kit, Borys (September 15, 2017). "Joel McHale Joins Melissa McCarthy in Puppet Comedy 'Happytime Murders' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  13. ^ a b Radish, Christina (July 12, 2018). "'The Happytime Murders': 25 Things to Know about the Long-Developing R-Rated Puppet Movie". Collider. Complex Media. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  14. ^ Goldberg, Matt (June 22, 2018). "STX Films Shifts 'Mile 22' and 'The Happytime Murders' Release Dates". Collider. Complex Media. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  15. ^ Knapp, JD (July 1, 2017). "STX Sets Dates for 'Molly's Game' and 'Happytime Murders'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  16. ^ Schaefer, Sandy (May 18, 2018). "Happytime Murders Trailer: Melissa McCarthy's Filthy Puppet Noir". Screen Rant. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  17. ^ Foutch, Haleigh (May 18, 2018). "Melissa McCarthy Snorts Ecstasy and Punches Puppets in NSFW 'The Happytime Murders' Trailer". Collider. Complex Media. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  18. ^ Faughnder, Ryan (August 22, 2018). "Filthy puppet movie 'Happytime Murders' to battle 'Crazy Rich Asians' at the box office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 22, 2018./
  19. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 2, 2018). "'Crazy Rich Asians' Accumulates Wealth Over Labor Day With $116M+ Total; Bigger Than 'The Help' & 'The Butler'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  20. ^ "The Happytime Murders (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  21. ^ "The Happytime Murders Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  22. ^ Melton, Sarah (August 23, 2018). "'The Happytime Murders' Offers Viewers a Very Unhappy Time". Exclaim!. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
  23. ^ Fenton, Jess (August 23, 2018). "Film review: The Happytime Murders - Filthy felt". SWITCH. Midnight Productions. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  24. ^ Lopez, Ricardo (May 25, 2018). "'Sesame Street' Creators Sue STX Entertainment Over Marketing for 'The Happytime Murders'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  25. ^ "Sesame Street sues over violent, puppet-based Happytime Murders film". BBC News. BBC. May 26, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  26. ^ Patten, Dominic; Pedersen, Erik (May 30, 2018). "'Happytime Murders' Lawsuit: Judge Kicks 'Sesame Street' Bosses' Grouchy Case To The Curb". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  27. ^ Burwick, Kevin (August 13, 2018). "NSFW Happytime Murders Trailer Gets Dirty and Depraved with Puppets". MovieWeb. Watchr Media. Retrieved August 23, 2018.

See also

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