“You know in your hearts when Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy go home at night, and there are no cameras around and no children, it’s filthy,” STX Films chairman Adam Fogelson said about “The Happytime Murders” at the recent CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas. “[It’s] lovable, relate-able, but it’s filthy.”
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Directed by Brian Henson, the son of “Muppets” creator Jim Henson, “The Happytime Murders,” neo-noir puppet action comedy, resembles “Team America” more than it does anything dad ever made. Starring Melissa McCarthy, “The Happytime Murders” is a murder mystery: when the puppet cast of an ’80s children’s TV show begins to get murdered one by one, a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private eye puppet takes on the case.
It’s the first film under the Henson Alternatives banner which is your first clue that this ain’t no sensational, inspirational, celebrational, muppetational cutsie comedy. ‘Happytime Murders,’ is Rated-R, filthy, violent and pretty fucked up. Here’s the official synopsis:
No Sesame. All Street. THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS is a filthy comedy set in the underbelly of Los Angeles where puppets and humans coexist. Two clashing detectives with a shared secret, one human (Melissa McCarthy) and one puppet, are forced to work together again to solve the brutal murders of the former cast of a beloved classic puppet television show.
Co-starring Bill Barretta as the main puppet, plus Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale, Leslie David Baker, and Elizabeth Banks, “The Happytime Murders” really impressed in Vegas and could potentially make a big summer splash too if it connects with audiences looking for something on the sassy side.
Then again, do you want to see puppets to have sex and then see that male puppet ejaculate all over the room profusely like he’s a Pornhub star? If so, this movie might be for you.
‘The Happytime Murders” jizzes its way into theaters and possibly your heart, on August 17 via STXfilms.
Here’s the trailer: