The Happytime Murders
STX Entertainment | Release Date: August 24, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
27
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 48 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
13
Negative:
30
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
CineVueZoe MargolisAug 30, 2018
Where The Happytime Murders excels is in its humour, because it’s very, very funny. But more than that, it’s filthy. Utterly, gloriously, unapologetically, deeply, darkly, sexually filthy. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicSamantha IncorvaiaAug 23, 2018
It's entertaining enough to see once, just to say you've seen it. But it surely isn't for everyone. You've got to have a dark and dirty sense of humor. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 22, 2018
There are a few spiky moments of sick, WTF fun (a bout of rough sex that ends with a Silly String climax; the first time a puppet drops an F-bomb), but mostly it feels like a promising idea poorly executed. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyAug 22, 2018
The Happytime Murders isn’t so much interested in immersing you in a comedic world so much as it is in having its puppets do the most outrageous things you’ve never seen or heard puppets do in a movie. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 22, 2018
What holds this patchwork of naughtiness together is some pretty threadbare cloth. Read full review
50
Original-CinJim SlotekAug 22, 2018
There’s enough promise in The Happytime Murders for it to possibly work as a short-lived, gimmicky Comedy Network series. But the effort that’s put into stretching this gag over the length of a feature film is more painful than funny. Read full review
45
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeAug 22, 2018
The one-joke nature of this adults-only spoof wears out the film’s welcome, even if director Brian Henson and his talented crew never let us see the strings. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubErik AdamsAug 23, 2018
It’d be an intriguing premise — if, again, it weren’t so nearly identical to "Roger Rabbit," right down to the inevitable frame job. Also, if The Happytime Murders had taken a few more cues from that film and focused less on the rote whodunit and more on the funhouse-mirror L.A. where it takes place. Read full review
41
The VergeBryan BishopOct 8, 2018
It’s frustrating that a movie that seems so improbable actually got made, only to fall so incredibly short. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredLuke ParkerAug 28, 2018
Frankly, it’s heartbreaking to see the Henson name tossed about a project that’s so heartless and so gruesome that the only thing I imagine sticking from it is Phil’s “Silly String.” Read full review
40
EmpireDan JolinAug 27, 2018
Who Framed Roger Rabbit meets Meets The Feebles, in a disappointing adult comedy that never lives up to the promise of its premise. Read full review
40
Film ThreatMatthew PassantinoAug 24, 2018
The Happytime Murders eventually ends up spinning its wheels, telling the same joke over-and-over. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonAug 22, 2018
While the actors and puppeteers are committed to The Happytime Murders’ surreal reality, they almost do too good a job: This world’s authenticity is so complete that you’re left mostly slogging through how inanimate most everything else about the movie is. Read full review
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