The opening few seconds of The Happytime Murders trailer are perfectly pitched to get your nostalgia bells ringing. Puppets! The director of The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. Feeling warm and fuzzy yet? Well strap in and make sure your boss or any kids are around, because — as the name might have clued you in — The Happytime Murders is not the spiritual sequel to Muppets Most Wanted.
No, in true Team America style, this is a hard R-rated comedy with lovely fuzzy-felt puppets snorting drugs (or, popping candy), getting gunned down by shotgun-toting serial killers, making sexual advances, and… well, you'll see. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Starring alongside the felt-covered stars is Melissa McCarthy, as a detective tracking down a culprit who’s mowing down kids’ favourites The Happytime Gang, as well as Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale, and Elizabeth Banks. McCarthy is also on the poster, which has the rather good tagline: 'No Sesame. All Street.'
The film doesn’t have a UK release date yet, but it will be, erm, making its mark on the big screen this summer. We’re off to watch The Muppet Movie and think of more innocent times.
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