The Happytime Murders - Sausage Party II: Muppet Boogaloo

Well, that looks fucking shit.

The problem with these "adult" takes on kids' characters is that 99% of the time, they seem to have been created by people who don't understand what being an adult is. It's just "oh hey hur hur lets make them swear and have sex." It can be done well. Avenue Q does have some very adult humour, but the jokes are good and the observations are pretty spot-on. The concept is basically taking Sesame Street and applying it to adult life. Team America relied on Gerry Anderson-style puppets for a lot of its humour, but it also had some very solid satire and raised some intelligent points. Who Framed Roger Rabbit very cleverly deconstructed cartoon conventions and had a decent story built around it.

If you're going to do an "adult take on kids' medium" movie, it either needs to put a new spin on the kids' medium (Avenue Q, Meet the Feebles, Who Framed Roger Rabbit), or using that medium needs to put a new spin on an old formula (Team America with action movies, Roger Rabbit with film noir). Otherwise, what's the point? The Happytime Murders, based on this trailer, does neither of those things. Nothing here says "this is a story that wouldn't work unless we used puppets." What it says is "this is a story that just doesn't work, here's a character jizzing silly string for half an hour."

Apparently it's been in development since 2008. Make of that what you will.
 
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So....basically its a reimagining of Theodore Rex
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No wonder Blob is fapping so hard over this. His diabetic toddler mind is still obsessed with cartoon and video game characters and muppets existing in the real world even a good 30 years after the Mario Brothers Movie
 
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So Brian is willing to not only fire someone who was hired personally by his own father to succeed him if he ever died, but also go "Gee, that Seth Rogan movie about food killing each other and having sex was a modest hit, let's do that with puppets!"

Something tells me that Brian's been fucked in the head since childhood.
 
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Steamboat_Bill said:
The Jim Henson Company has been trying to get this thing off the ground for nearly a decade. I honestly hadn't heard anything about it since 2010 or so.

At first Cameron Diaz was supposed to be the female lead, then Katherine Heigl.
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Which says to me that they were operating on "What female lead can we get cheap, but still kind-of sort-of has a career"? Diaz and Heigl were both on the downward swing of their careers, as I feel McCarthy is.
 
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Lawsuit ahoy.
People said:
The creators of Sesame Street don’t want to have a hand in Melissa McCarthy’s new movie The Happytime Murders.

The Sesame Workshop is suing the production company behind the R-rated film, which was directed by Brian Henson, the son of Sesame Street puppeteer Jim Henson, claiming the raunchy movie could cause “irreparable injury” to the show’s brand, according to a lawsuit obtained by The Blast.

In their complaint, the Sesame Street creators claim that the film’s tagline, “No Sesame, All Street,” leads audiences to believe there is a connection to the show.

The film’s trailer, the say, “deliberately confuses consumers into mistakenly believing that Sesame is associated with, has allowed, or has even endorsed or produced the movie and tarnishes Sesame’s brand.”

In response, STX Entertainment, the production company behind The Happytime Murders, issued a statement from lawyer puppet Fred Esq. “STX loved the idea of working closely with Brian Henson and the Jim Henson Company to tell the untold story of the active lives of Henson puppets when they’re not performing in front of children,” Fred said, on behalf of STX.

“Happytime Murders is the happy result of that collaboration and we’re incredibly pleased with the early reaction to the film and how well the trailer has been received by its intended audience. While we’re disappointed that Sesame Street does not share in the fun, we are confident in our legal position. We look forward to introducing adult moviegoers to our adorably unapologetic characters this summer,” his statement continued.

In their complaint, the Sesame Street creators say their show has spent 50 years building its “reputation for wholesome educational programming,” while the trailer for the new film depicts “explicit, profane, drug-using, misogynistic, violent, copulating, and even ejaculating puppets.”

According to the complaint, the film’s explicit content “diluted and defiled Sesame’s beloved Sesame Streetchildren’s television show.”

The film’s logline describes the movie as “a filthy comedy set in the underbelly of Los Angeles where puppets and humans coexist.” McCarthy stars as a detective who teams up with a puppet private eye to track down a serial killer. In addition to being directed by Henson’s son, the film was produced by The Jim Henson Company’s Henson Alternative banner, On The Day Productions, and was executive produced by Henson’s daughter Lisa Henson.

The movie has earned substantial buzz, with the R-rated trailer wracking up nearly 1.7 million views on YouTube.

Despite describing the film as “indescribably crude,” the complaint makes clear that Sesame Street is not trying to stop the movie from hitting theaters. “It is only [the filmmaker’s] deliberate choice to invoke and commercially misappropriate Sesame’s name and goodwill in marketing the movie – and thereby cause consumers to conclude that Sesame is somehow associated with the movie – that has infringed on and tarnished the Sesame Street mark and goodwill.”

The show’s creators are asking that the film pull its advertising, in addition to unspecified damages.

The Happytime Murders, also starring Joel McHale and Elizabeth Banks, is set to hit theaters Aug. 17.
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https://people.com/movies/sesame-st...ys-new-movie-over-violent-copulating-puppets/
 
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Sexy Times Hitler said:
Lawsuit ahoy.

https://people.com/movies/sesame-st...ys-new-movie-over-violent-copulating-puppets/
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If Sesame Street believes that people will think they were involved in the making of this R rated movie, they must be as dumb as Fox News when they thought their audience would think a book by Al Franken was affiliated with them because it had a parody of their slogan on the cover. A handful of people will probably be duped and we'll get to laugh at them over that.
 
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I won't see it in theaters, and it definitely doesn't feel fresh or original in the slightest, but I might watch it with some friends for shits and giggles when it leaks online. I only say this because I have some respect for puppeteers, especially the Jim Henson Company, and it's clear everyone at the company enjoys their job (at least that's my guess). I found some odd enjoyment in watching the puppets explode into stuffing when shot at, and the silly string semen is a funny concept, though it looks like the joke goes on for too long. Team America will still be the superior puppet film, though.

They could do more clever things with it, and as it's only a trailer, there's probably more to it than at face-value. Though if they do end up showing some McCarthy titty, it's going to be an even more awkward watch.
 
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Yeah... I need to watch those Muppet films, again, instead. Sounds like a better time had than this reminder of why Western animation is so frowned upon and for good reasons.
 
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Honestly, I would not see it in part because McCarthy is in it and I'm tired of seeing her being crammed into movies; on screen she's obnoxious and feels like someone scooped a C-list comedianne out of one of her co-starring roles on one of those tepid hacky sitcoms that lasts three or four seasons out of inertia and exist mainly to fill time slots the networks don't know what to do with. That's about where she should be at her talent level.
 
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I'm a fan of stuff with puppets- Muppets Treasure Island remains one of my favorite films to this day- and I find myself wanting to watch this movie if only for the puppets. No need for the bovine partner. Just gimme Cole Phelps a la Muppet. Puppet Noir... Now there's an idea. Maybe.
 
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There's a fucking puppet detective movie coming out with Melissa McCarthy. Best timeline.
Sexy Times Hitler said:
The original concept art suggested a straight-up Neo-Noir, but with the humor coming from it happening to puppets.
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I honestly have no idea if the studio or Melissa McCarthy demanded changes, but it's still incredibly disappointing to see a cool idea turn into this.
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This should get made too. More fucking puppets. I want a grimdark rape scene in an alley with puppets.
 
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