MOVIES WITH DAVE

Only one new movie this week, a Melissa McCarthy comedy with a cast of incredibly raunchy puppets, but since I had the extra time this weekend I decided to check out the 50th anniversary release of “2001: A Space Odyssey” showing for only one week in IMAX theaters. This is a movie I’ve tried to watch in the past. I swear I’ve given it my best effort. Yet the last time I attempted to get through “2001” I ended up sound asleep right after the first monolith. This time I was determined though. Before arriving at the theater, I stopped by a coffee shop, bought the largest caffeinated drink I could, with an extra shot of espresso for good measure, and chugged it down before getting settled to watch the classic sci-fi film. Sadly, even that wasn’t enough to keep me entirely awake through Stanley Kubrick’s epic. It’s just such a slow and plodding movie. Yes, it’s beautiful. Undoubtedly. The special effects showcased in “2001” are unquestionably remarkable, especially for a film released in 1968, and most of the visuals still hold up quite nicely even to this day. There’s so much attention to detail put into the sets and cinematography. I especially loved the scenes demonstrating weightlessness in space. They really do a wonderful job of messing with your perspective in a way you don’t see all that often. That said, I struggled to keep my eyes open for nearly the entire film. There are so many scenes where there’s just a spaceship on screen, moving slowly and methodically for minutes at a time. Often times the film feels more like a pure showcase for the special effects and less like a movie with much story to tell. It was a battle for me to keep from drifting off, a battle I lost more times than I’d like to admit. As a piece of filmmaking history I highly respect “2001: A Space Odyssey” as a groundbreaking achievement in visual effects and the impact it’s had to inspire other filmmakers is undeniable. I don’t enjoy watching it though. Call me unsophisticated, tell me I’m a simpleton, but “2001” just doesn’t captivate me like it does so many other film lovers. I wish it did, but it just doesn’t. Still, I made it through more of “2001” than I ever had previously. I’ll take that as a victory, if an incredibly minor one. Maybe if I’m still alive for the 100th anniversary release of this film in Ultra 5D IncredaMAX with lasers beamed directly into your eyeballs, or however we’re watching movies in 2068, I’ll finally appreciate the brilliance of Kubrick’s work. We’ll see. Regardless, I’ve rambled long enough about a 50-year-old classic. Let’s get to the movie with foulmouthed puppets. *** The only new movie this week is “The Happytime Murders.” Set in the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles where puppets and humans coexist, this movie follows puppet private eye Phil Phillips (Bill Barretta). When the puppet cast of an ‘80s children’s TV show begins getting murdered one by one, Phil is forced to team up with his former partner, Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy), to bring the killer to justice. A noir detective comedy with puppets made for adults. That’s certainly not a concept you see every day. Announced back in 2008, this film has been a project of Brian Henson, son of Jim Henson, stuck in production hell for years and years now. Since then, the leading role for this movie has been offered to Cameron Diaz, Katherine Heigl, and Jamie Foxx. Finally in 2017 Melissa McCarthy signed on to star in the film, and in the process worked on some rewrites to the film’s screenplay. So here it finally is a decade later. Was it all worth the wait? No. No it wasn’t. But first though, let me be very clear. When I say this movie is for adults, I mean this film is absolutely not appropriate for children. “The Happytime Murders” has an R-rating for a reason. This isn’t “Sesame Street.” The puppets here say just about every dirty word you could think of, not to mention numerous puppet sex acts, including one with a climax featuring an absurd amount of silly string. All of that brings me to my biggest problem with this movie. It’s just not all that funny. I guess if the novelty of hearing puppets use mature language sounds hilarious to you, this might appeal to you, but even then they almost never do anything clever with the concept. I hesitate to even call the attempts at humor in this movie jokes. This is basically all they have. Puppets using bad language, puppets doing drugs, puppets talking about their genitals, puppets offering sex, puppets having sex, puppets performing in not one, but two bizarre sex scenes for pornography. There’s nothing creative about the dialogue. They’re just going for pure shock value. I felt degraded just watching it. I don’t mind raunchy or offensive humor, but there’s got to be decent writing to go along with it. This movie relies completely on its gimmick for any laughs and fails because of it. I guess Melissa Mc-Carthy’s added presence might enhance the movie for some. I’ve definitely enjoyed her work in the past with “Bridesmaids” and more recently with “Spy.” Sadly her performance here is closer to her more recent work like “The Boss” and “Life of the Party.” Coincidentally, those are also movies where she happened to be involved in the writing, just like The Happytime Murders.” Melissa McCarthy is a fine actress, I truly believe that, but they really need to stop letting her have anything to do with the scripts. She doesn’t write funny movies. I’m sorry. That’s all there is to it. Beyond the lowbrow comedy, the story is about as unoriginal as they come and the characters here barely amount to anything more than one-note caricatures. I will say one positive thing about this movie though. It has some really creative puppet designs. Leave it to a Henson to make some well crafted and quality looking puppets. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Muppets, and the effort put into the puppeteering and behind-the-scenes work is really well done here. Nothing but praise for those people. I only wish their effort could have gone to making a better film. I don’t know who I’d recommend this movie to. It seems like it was made to appeal to 13-14 year olds with all the crass jokes and lowbrow humor, but it’s also rated R. If I were a parent I know I wouldn’t want to take my teenager to this. Not because of the vulgarity, but because it’s unfunny, poorly written garbage. Skip this poorly executed, unfunny excuse for a comedy. If you’re looking for laughs, you can do so much better. “The Happytime Murders” is rated R.

Beyond the lowbrow comedy, the story is about as unoriginal as they come and the characters here barely amount to anything more than one-note caricatures.