If Sam Spade was a softcore porn made by the Muppet studios…
Los Angeles in modern times is a place with a racism problem, only it isn’t based on skin colors. Instead, it’s a much more organic matter. The have’s are all human. The have-not’s are puppets. One of those downtrodden puppets is Phil Phillips, a private eye ex-cop who gets pulled right into the middle of a series of murders. Phil (Bill Barretta) is the stereotypical noir gumshoe at the center of the story, and stereotypes are absolutely key to the movie.
The Happytime Stereotypes
Phillips’ secretary, Bubbles (Maya Rudolph), is the nasa-toned, perky girl who answers the phones, has a crush on her boss, and tries to be the voice of reason. She’s Sam Spade’s Effie, or The Shadow’s Margo Lane. Bubbles also is smarter than she lets on, another terrific trope of noir secretaries.
Phillips is forced to work with his former partner on the force, Detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy). Her boss is the veteran, straight shooter, lieutenant (Leslie David Baker). Even the FBI (Joel McHale) gets involved, leading to the tension between the local and Federal law enforcement.
The Happytime Plot
Phil is approached by a client, Sandra (Dorien Davies), who is being blackmailed. Following the trail of the blackmail, Phil witnesses a handful of murders. The next one who gets offed is his brother. The link between the victims is that they are all cast members on a syndicated sitcom, The Happytime Gang. The first show socially accepted by both humans and puppets, The Happytime Gang has just earned syndication. It turns out that the living cast members get a split of a $10 million payout. The fewer alive, the more they each get.
Phillips and Edwards are forced to team up to solve the case. What results is the filthiest, profanity-laden, sex-filled, violent take on the old timey cop stories. It takes everything kind and earnest that viewers expect from a puppet-filled movie and defiles it. Puppets get addicted to sugar instead of cocaine. There’s an office sex scene that takes a visual gag way too far. The entire time it’s obvious that every human actor knows exactly how outrageous the script is.
The Happytime Performances
McCarthy enjoys the tropes, leaning hard into all of it. Her Edwards has anger management issues, a vulgar vocabulary, and plenty of puppet racism. She and Rudolph are brilliant together in their brief time on screen.
Barretta, a veteran puppeteer, immediately treats viewers to his take on a stereotype private dick. Baker, McHale, Rudolph, and Elizabeth Banks all get the joke that they’re in on, and ham it up as necessary. Christopher Lennertz adds to all of it with an appropriate score that supports the chain smoking and black coffee attitude of the film.
Conclusion
This film isn’t for everyone. It earns a hard R rating for sexual content, a script chock full of vulgarity, and what would be a gorefest if half the cast wasn’t sewn together. There are fake racial slurs, a comical porn shop, a plot for revenge, and flawed characters all around. It’s a stoner kind of comedy that looks like it was fun to film. (Check out the end credits for some improv and bloopers.)