The Happytime Murders (2018)

Would you want to watch a comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and … puppets? The real question is: why wouldn’t you? McCarthy lends her star power to this whodunnit that takes place in the seedy underbelly of LA, where puppets and human beings co-exist.

Directed by Brian Henson (son of Jim Henson, the beloved puppeteer who created The Muppets, as well as directed 1986’s Labyrinth), The Happytime Murders is a murder mystery like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

Two detectives – one human, one puppet – are forced to work together to crack the case. Stars from a puppet sitcom are being brutally murdered, and hard-drinking private detective Phil Phillips (a fuzzy blue puppet voiced by Bill Barretta) is out to stop them. He’s joined by his former partner Connie Edwards (McCarthy), and together, they trawl through just about every X-rated puppet scene imaginable in their quest for the truth.

Fun fact: there are over 120 puppets in The Happytime Murders.

Fleshing (ahem) out the cast is fellow Bridesmaids cast member Maya Rudolph as Bubbles, Phil’s suitably bubbly secretary, Joel McHale (Community) as FBI Agent Campbell, and Elizabeth Banks as Jenny, a human burlesque dancer and Phil’s ex.

The Happytime Murders is exactly the kind of weird and wonderful comedy you need in your life right now.