the happytime murders | the m0vie blog

New Podcast! Scannain Podcast (2018) #32!

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Darren

Bringing us almost up to date with the Scannain podcast!

This week, I join Jason Coyle, Alex Towers from When Irish Eyes Are Watching and Ronan Doyle to discuss the week in film, including what we watched, the latest news, the top ten and the new releases. This episode, Jay discusses the portrayal of the working class in Eden Lake, Alex remarks on his experiences with Studio Ghibli, Ronan reflects on the Orson Welles season at the Irish Film Institute and offers his take on The Children Act. We also, in the context of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, discuss the all-time top ten at the Irish box office.

New releases include Yardie, Cold War, Action Point, The Happytime Murders, Searching… and Upgrade.

Give it a listen at the link, or check it out below.

Non-Review Review: The Happytime Murders

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Darren

The Happytime Murders may be the worst film of the year.

There are any number of issues with The Happytime Murders. The film is only ninety one minutes long, but feels interminable. The film has no idea what it is about in any meaningful sense, beyond assembling a number of familiar tropes in a very familiar way. Beyond that, the film seems to believe that rehashing familiar clichés is amusing of itself, some sort of self-aware postmodern ironic anti-comedy where the reference to the thing is enough of itself to become a joke.

It really blows.

A larger problem is that the film assumes that seeing puppets do “adult” things has greater novelty than it does. The Happytime Murders is a film that is consciously powered by the juvenile thrill of watching beloved children’s characters caught in inappropriate situations – swearing at one another, smoking cigarettes, engaging in vigorous sexual activity. This glosses over the fact that there are plenty of other media that has already covered this ground. The Happytime Murders runs on a joke that has already been repeated and rehashed several times.

However, all of these concerns distract from the biggest issue with The Happytime Murders. It is just not funny.