Those with fond memories of The Muppet Show will have them ruined by the look of The Happytime Murders trailer, a filthy action comedy set in a Los Angeles where puppets and humans coexist.
From The Happytime Murders trailer it appears to centre on 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.
The film has already attracted a fair bit of controversy due to the first Happytime Murders trailer having a sex scene which climaxes, as it were, with a ‘money shot’ done with silly string. There was also going to be a tagline of, ‘No Sesame, All street’ but that was quickly dropped. But what really courted trouble is the fact that the puppets are made by Jim Henson’s workshop who make The Muppets themselves and is directed by his son Brian Henson and is the first film he’s directed since Muppet Treasure Island way back in 1996. But it seems the film was going to be even more vulgar than the Happytime Murders trailer suggest with a character and his singing penis dropped early on from the final shooting script.
With Melissa McCarthy (The Boss) as the lead human and also produces she’s joined by Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale and the always great Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect 3) who is about to start work directing the new Charlie’s Angels reboot. Brian Henson directs from a screenplay by Todd Berger whose previous writing credits include a number of short films as well as several King Fu Panda short cartoons.
The Happytime Murders is released in the US on the 24th August 2018 and in the UK on the 27th August 2018
Here’s the Happytime Murders trailer……
