Uhm. Yeah. This is not your average flick. I kinda don’t even know how to approach this one. It’s got some heavy allegory/metaphor shit goins on at one level, I got drunk and forgot the difference between the two again. That part, pretty lame, but if you make it past that this is pretty fuckin funny if into
Fuckitall puppet private investigator Phil Phillips who smokes the ciggys heavily and takes care of business investigatins and stompin puppetfeetpoachers in the dick. Ex-cop (obviously), just trying to scrape by as a puppet investigator in a human/puppet world. There’s a clear societal hierarchy, but Phil just does his job lookin out for the felt-born (aka puppets). But he gets caught up in a crime scene that involves the popular Happytime Gang TV show, which brings up his past he’d rather not linger on, and he finds himself working the case with his human ex-partner cop once again and neither likes it.
This opens with a “Henson Alternative” credit (plus a lot of Asian character writings which doesn’t make sense unless it does), basically signaling a puppet movie for adults, and then proceeds to show some pretty amazing puppeteering if you’re into that kinda thing. And of course they got their asses sued by the Muppets. I can’s imagine why? As much as I enjoyed Peter Jackson’s Meet the Feebles, this one may cross into even more fucked up territory if that’s even possible (though to Jackson’s title credit of “Most Fucked Up Film Starring Puppets with a Coherent Plotline” is still beholden to him). There’s so many not-right scenarios playing out here, it can be pretty cringey given the combination of puppet and adult themes. But from a pure comedy standpoint? Some real fucking funny stuff here if you’re not too uptight. Usually not a big fan of Melissa McCarthy, but she does do a great job here being the foul-mouthed PissOff Cop partner that puppet investigator/ex-cop Phil Phillips deserves. Well done hard-boiled detective story told through a ludicrously duuurty puppet filter.
