The Happytime Murders | 2018 | R | - 8.6.10

Why is "The Happytime Murders" rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for "strong crude and sexual content and language throughout, and some drug material." The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes instances of sex, nudity, violence and gore involving mostly puppets (we see more felt than flesh), raunchy and scatological humor and more than 80 F-words. Read our parents' review below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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When the puppet cast members of a children's program from the 1980s begin turning up dead, a detective (Melissa McCarthy) and her former partner (voiced by Bill Barretta) are reunited to get to the bottom of the case. Also with Elizabeth Banks, Maya Rudolph, Leslie David Baker and Joel McHale. Directed by Brian Henson. [Running Time: 1:31]

The Happytime Murders SEX/NUDITY 8

 - A female puppet flirts with a male puppet and puts her foot on his shoulder and then licks his face with a very long tongue; they then have sex on a desk with a lot of thrusting and grunting and then against the frosted window of a door (there are people on the other side of the door that hear and see the female puppet being pressed against the glass) followed by an extended ejaculation and we see silly string spraying all around the room, on the ceiling and the walls.
► A sequence from a porn movie is shown where a man is strapped to a bed (he is bare-chested with his pants open at the waist and we see his bare chest and abdomen) as a puppet dog whips and berates him, and then pinches his nipples. We see a sex shop with pornographic movies and sex aids for sale; in the back room we see a cow on a table with an octopus standing over it manually stimulating its udders and milk sprays around the room as a camera films them in an extended sequence. A woman and a male puppet are shown in a hot tub (the puppet is shirtless and we see shoulders and chest (made out of fabric), and the woman wears a bikini top and boy shorts that reveal cleavage, bare shoulders, abdomen and legs to the lower buttocks); the woman kisses the puppet.
► A woman touches a male puppet's thigh and they make a date for dinner. A woman and a male puppet hold hands and kiss. We see a photo of a woman and a female puppet (both wearing corsets that reveal cleavage and bare legs) in a sexual position. A woman dances around a pole in a strip club while three puppet rabbits watch and cheer (the woman wears shorts with fishnet stockings and a top that reveals bare shoulders, abdomen and cleavage). A female puppet spreads her legs to expose purple fluff (i.e. pubic hair) like the infamous scene from " Basic Instinct."
► A puppet says he has a "crippling addiction to porn." A woman says to a man, "I wish I would have had sex with you" (using crude terms), and he replies, "It's not too late." A puppet talks about having "sexual proclivities." References are made to "kissing cousins" and that a couple who are cousins have children together (we see the children later and one has three eyes and the other one eye). A police officer frisks a puppet and the puppet makes a sexually suggestive remark. A puppet holds a sex aid and calls it a carrot. A woman tells a puppet that he is fluffy and good on the inside. A male puppet makes a reference to the color of a robe matching the color of his pubic hair. Two female puppets try to solicit a woman that they mistake for a man. A puppet snorts sugar and offers sex to a woman for more sugar. A woman describes prison rape on puppets. A woman and a female puppet say they are married.
► A puppet wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage. We see a blow up doll on the shelf of a sex shop and it has breasts and nipples. People are shown wearing swimwear in a beach scene (we see cleavage, abdomens and bare chests).

The Happytime Murders VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 - A car explodes and we see the shape of a woman in the driver's seat engulfed in flames. A woman is shot and we see a lot of blood on her hands and abdomen. Three dogs bark and bite a puppet dragging him out of a hot tub and pulling him apart; a woman grabs the leg of the puppet trying to get him away from the dogs and the leg pulls off in her hands (we see a lot of stuffing and limbs scattered around the crime scene later).
► Three puppets are shot and we see their stuffing blow out of their bodies while a puppet rabbit stands in fear and glittery liquid pours from between its legs then plastic eggs fall on the floor from between its legs and it is shot. Three puppets are shot and we see stuffing blown into the air and the head of one of them is shot off. A puppet is shot in the head and he falls to the ground with his young daughter standing over him crying (we see this in flashbacks a few times). A puppet falls onto the shoulders of a woman and holds a gun to her head, another puppet shoots the first one in the head and we see a bullet hole in the forehead. A woman shoots a puppet in the arm (a tuft of stuffing puffs out of the wound). A woman and a puppet arm themselves and walk around a building, enter it and search the area until they find two beheaded puppets in a bed with stuffing all around them. A puppet beats up two men with a crowbar and stomps on the crotch of one of the men (one man is shown with a bloody face).
► A puppet threatens another puppet with a gun. A woman fights several puppets with punches and hits one with a bottle that breaks and then holds a gun to another. A teenage boy pulls an eye off a puppet's face and another puppet punches the boy in the nose (no blood shown). A puppet throws an ivory ball that hits a man in the head and knocks him unconscious. A dead puppet washes up on a beach and two men twist it to wring the water out of it. Many puppets hold guns on a woman and a puppet. Four men carry a puppet to a plane and throw him into the jet engine; he holds onto the rim of the engine as it whirs.
► A woman handcuffed to a steering wheel fights four men hitting them with the wheel and kicking and punching them. A woman attacks a man and they yell at each other until they are pulled apart. A puppet tackles a woman into a hot tub where they wrestle, he is shown with his mouth on her clothed breast and she bites his clothed crotch and they both yell. We see severed puppet plush feet and hands on a chain as a man describes someone killing puppets for their feet. A man shoves a puppet out of the way and takes his taxi as the puppet calls out a profanity. Two dogs bark viciously at two puppets as the puppets tremble. A police officer frisks a puppet and the puppet makes a sexually suggestive remark. A woman kicks a puppet crab into the air and we hear it yell. A woman holds a cloth with chloroform on a man's face and he falls unconscious. A puppet hits a woman in the head with a suitcase knocking her out.
► Several lines of dialogue include racist allusions to differences between puppets and humans as they were used by whites toward African-Americans. A woman says, "I un-sewed your mother and made a coat out of her." A puppet talks about his aunt having died in a "Zamboni accident." A woman threatens a puppet to sew his anus shut and keep feeding him. People insult and berate puppets in several scenes. A puppet snorts sugar and offers sex to a woman for more sugar. A woman describes prison rape against puppets.
► A room bursts into flames; two women escape unharmed. A puppet speeds in a car in the wrong lane, and then across the road as an oncoming car honks. A puppet is locked in a cooler and he complains later about being nearly asphyxiated. A woman shoots her car radio several times. A woman kicks a door and yells in pain.
► A man gags after seeing the remains of a dead puppet (we see stuffing and cloth). A woman snorts "hyper-sucrose" through a Twizzler and falls back as if she is unconscious or dead, and then revives and acts inebriated shooting a handgun in the air a couple of times. A reference is made to someone having a "puppet liver." A puppet dog character is shown with a lot of slimy spittle on its mouth. A woman gags after licking sugar off a mirror and a puppet says that he urinated on the mirror. A comment is made about a tampon commercial. A character uses the term puke.

The Happytime Murders LANGUAGE 10

 - About 87 F-word and its derivatives, 2 obscene hand gestures, 16 sexual references, 34 scatological terms, 42 anatomical terms, 24 mild obscenities, name-calling (stupid puppet, fluffy blue sock, shyster, dumb rookie, human nose, poison, big idiot, kissing cousins, nut job, sick, psycho, meat sack, rotten cotton, dumb, little dummies, bleach job, fat, crazy, loser, monster, dirty sock, sock puppet, jack wad), exclamations (oh my gosh, what the heck, wow, man, oh brother, shut-up, oh boy, jeez), 10 religious profanities (GD), 29 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Mother of God, Jesus [F-word deleted] Christ, Holy [scatological term deleted], Christ, Oh God, Jesus Christ, For Christ's Sake, Jesus). | profanity glossary |

The Happytime Murders SUBSTANCE USE

 - A woman snorts "hyper-sucrose" through a Twizzler and is affected as if it is a drug, a woman cuts sugar crystals like it is cocaine and snorts some through a Twizzler, people make references to a "sugar den," a puppet snorts sugar, a woman holds a cloth with chloroform on a man's face and he falls unconscious, and a woman says that she sells weed. A puppet drinks a glass of whisky and says he's going to drink until he passes out, a woman and a puppet hold Margaritas in a hot tub and the woman makes more of the drink in a blender, puppets drink alcohol in a strip club, a fridge is shown full of bottles of maple syrup (it's supposed to be like alcohol), and several puppets drink alcohol and maple syrup from bottles. A puppet smokes cigarettes in several scenes and blows out an inordinate amount of smoke in a few of those scenes, and a woman smokes two cigarettes at the same time.

The Happytime Murders DISCUSSION TOPICS

 - Murder, greed, disappointment, failure, racism, guilt, suffering, revenge, regret.

The Happytime Murders MESSAGE

 - Working together can make the difference in solving a problem.