[wpdevart_youtube]CzhFidCeo[/wpdevart_youtube]THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS ***
Dir: Brian Henson (15, 120 mins)
Making puppets do rude things is nothing new. Team America had Thunderbirds-esque ribaldry; Peter Jackson, the man behind The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, made Meet The Feebles back in 1989, which had all manner of felty filthiness throughout it; and there’s been the theatrical raunch and sweariness of Avenue Q since 2003. Now comes a hardboiled noir-esque adult version of puppets from Brian Henson, son of Jim, the man who gave us The Muppets. Here, humans and puppets co-exist in a gritty world full of drug use, prostitution, graphic violence and silly-string ejaculation. Puppets are second-class citizens, however, looked down on by their human counterparts. Melissa McCarthy plays Connie, a tough detective paired with an even tougher puppet, disgraced ex-partner-turned-private-eye Phil Phillips, puppeteered and voiced by Bill Baretta. His brother has been murdered by a serial killer who is now targeting celebrity puppets, namely the cast of 1980s hit The Happytime Gang. The human cast includes Maya Rudolph as a beleaguered secretary and Elizabeth Banks amidst the mayhem. There’s plentiful snorting of ecstasy, four-letter word frenzies and puppet sex. Muppets for grown ups? Hopefully with some of the charm along with the raunch. Opens Aug 17