Muppets Most Wanted
Let’s just start off by saying – I grew up LOVING The Muppets. Their movies were on a regular rotation at my house – we are talking the original The Muppet Movie, Muppet Treasure Island, The Muppet Christmas Carole, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Great Muppet Caper. All of them. A lot.
Once I became an adult, and in the lead-up to what amounted to a re-launch of The Muppets, I re-visited some of these classics, and also began to familiarize myself with The Muppet Show. It wasn’t until I was older that I truly got a sense of the comedic patterns that make The Muppets so great. Obviously, I laughed at everything when I was a kid. But, the humor in The Muppets is so layered with satire that as a kid, laughing at Ms. Piggy doing a “Hi-YA” or Beaker making silly noises, there’s something you’re missing. You’re taking the gags and silliness at face value. But once you’ve grown up, seen hundreds of comedic shows and movies, learned about old Hollywood, know the names of actors…
Then, you can finally recognize the cameos and see the satire. Honestly, I’m surprised I even appreciated these movies as much as I did as a kid.
The Muppets are bonkers. Silly. Ridiculous. Hilarious. Genuinely, these movies have a sense of humor in and of themselves. I’m not saying The Muppets are the funniest thing going – far from it. Comedy means a lot to me, so we’ll have to save the conversation about “funniest comedians” for another time.
I’m just saying, what’s undeniable is that Muppet humor is Muppet humor. And, in my humble opinion, it’s great.
I saw the first “new” Muppets movie (The Muppets, 2011) soon after it left theaters. I genuinely can’t remember where I watched it (maybe on a plane?) or much about it. I remember the general plot and that we got introduced to a new Muppet character. But since the plot is never the point of these movies… the fact that I can’t remember one joke, or cameo, or song from that first movie should be considered a scathing indictment.
Listen, it was probably fun, and I do remember liking it. But it was just fine. To me, even then, it felt clearly like something that was just created to set up future movies. Ok, sure. That’s what you have to do to “re-launch” a franchise. But more than that, it’s that the tone just felt… off for a Muppets film – way too bogged down in the plot.
I’ll leave it there regarding The Muppets (2011 movie). Maybe I’ll re-visit it again and maybe I’ll like it better the second time around. For now, let that give you a sense of where I’m at when I sit down to watch Muppets Most Wanted.
Muppets Most Wanted was released in 2014. And I am just now watching it. You can get a sense of the level of anticipation and expectation I had for this movie. In fact, I wasn’t sure I would even bother to write a full review of it.
And then I hit play.
SPOILER ZONE
The opening song works in a lot of what I’m talking about – The Muppets know they were just in a movie, they mention tax forms, notice the camera, and realize they are in another movie! A sequel! The self-referential “sequels aren’t good” jokes are nothing new, but I did appreciate the “Toy Story 4” dig, and even the reference to the their own 1-liner cameos.
I could spend all day listing some of my favorite bits – “Fozzie did you even watch our last film?” – love it.
Right away, I’m loving Ricky Gervais in this. His first few scenes I really felt like he was leaning into it – putting a lot of comedic umph into his performance.
I literally guffawed at “Dominic Badguy” – “It’s pronounced ‘Bad-gee’. It’s French. It means ‘good man’.” “Oh, ok.”
This is what I’m talking about.
Quick sidebar: I want to make sure I’m being clear on the humor thing, because I think I’m having trouble putting it into words. It’s not just that the jokes are cheesy. It’s that they are cheesy on purpose and know that they are, and that willful cheesiness is like a punk-rock breath of fresh comedic air? It’s like a current throwback. Humor from another time, brought to the current time, but knows it’s from another time so it actually feels fresh and new.
Back to Ricky… Sorry to say that while I thought he started off strong, I do feel like he starts to coast towards the middle and for most of the remaining scenes. I was prepared to say he was my favorite part of the film, but it turns out I thought he was actually the weakest of the three main human actors.
I’m surprised and disappointed by this – I thought for sure he would love the absurdity and silliness of the humor. The Muppets have always had a bit of an anti-establishment bent, and I would think Ricky would love this.
To be honest, he probably does. So, now I’m wondering if he’s maybe just not that good of an actor? I’ve seen the British version of “The Office” of course, and he’s objectively brilliant in that. I also know he’s at least somewhat well acclaimed for his other performances. Who can say – maybe he just couldn’t get a take on this character? Maybe he couldn’t act as well with The Muppets as he can with real people?
That being said, I did appreciate we got to see some song and dance from him! I had pretty high expectations since I do know that he was in a band in the 80’s. The singing was pretty good! The dancing… really not. Just like the rest of his performance, I found myself wanting more.
CAMEOS
I’m dedicating a whole section to talking about cameos, because as I was watching this movie, well over half of my notes are just the cameos I caught. I’m trying to figure out why I love these so much. I think that, as with the humor, they refuse to make a deal of out it. It happens, we move on. No beat for you to realize who it is, no extra hold on the face for a true reaction shot. If you know, you know. If not, you don’t miss anything.
Why. Do. I. Love. This. So. Much.
It’s like a cool little secret, or maybe the feeling that you are in on the joke. Or, maybe I just like the thrill of recognizing someone.
Right off the bat, we get Christoph Waltz. They say his name first, but when he is actually shown on the screen! They are laying the stakes. Like, “Guess what. We got Christoph Waltz. He’s dancing with a giant Muppet. Where can we go from here? No one is too big for this silliness.” Gauntlet. Laid.
My absolute favorite was James McAvoy. I literally screamed “MCAVOY!” at my TV when I saw him.
In a slightly problematic turn, Selma Hayek performs with them in Spain. She is not Spanish – she is Mexican American. Although, Waltz is Austrian and does show up in the German show, this doesn’t quite feel the same.
That being said, the bit is hilarious, and she commits 100%.
RAY LIOTTA IS JUST IN THE BACKGROUND FOR A LOT OF THIS MOVIE. It’s truly a marvel to behold. As a prisoner in the Russian Gulag, he sings, he dances, he is fully committed.
My buddy Jemaine Clement (of Flight of the Conchords fame) is also in the group of Russian prisoners. Now, don’t get me wrong, I got VERY excited when I saw him. But this is sort of in his wheelhouse isn’t it? Silliness. Songs. Two thumbs up for him. But to see Ray Liotta be silly like this? I remain shooketh.
Quick shoutout to Danny Trejo for rounding out our prisoners!
Staying in the prison for now.. I will say with pride that I got Josh Groban from the moment of his first solo! Yay me!
Here now is a direct quote from a section of my notes taken while watching this film:
“Celine!
Chloe Grace Moretz!
Stanley Tucci!
Tom Hiddleston!
Usher!
Zach Galifianakis!”
Need I say more?
…And when I tell you that Sean Combs is in this movie. Multiple times.
Ultimately, my respect for these folks has increased pretty significantly after seeing them appear in this film. It’s a sign of true confidence – they will now and forevermore be on my list of favorite people. Congrats to them!
(There are obviously more cameos than I talk about here!)
THE MUSIC
The music starts off just ok for me – your standard fun song to open the movie, a mediocre performance from Ricky and the evil frog (Constantine did kind of crush it, though). Every song from there, just gets better and better and better.
I think my favorite has to be “Big House”. Tina Fey is a national treasure - there is no debate about this.
Beyond that, we have Celine just singing her heart out – gorgeous. Then, a hilarious spoken word thing / not quite a song about interrogating The Muppets from Ty Burrell and Sam the Eagle. I could go on and on.
Stepping away from the original songs momentarily: I cannot proceed any further without discussing what was, for me, a highlight of this already delightful experience. Kermit is in the Gulag, beginning his rehearsals for (obviously) the Gulag talent review. So, I’m thinking “Fun! Another original song! Maybe a pop cover!”. Did I think the first words I heard would be “God I hope I get it…”? No!
Please know that I shrieked at the TV when it became clear that Kermit was leading Russian prisoners that included Jemaine Clement, Danny Trejo and RAY LIOTTA in A Chorus Line. Thank you to the Muppet Gods for putting so many of my favorite things in one scene (*prayer hands emoji*).
Getting back to the original songs: As I was watching the credits (to make sure I didn’t miss any cameos) I see that the songs were created by [a person who feels like] my dear, personal friend: Bret McKenzie (also of Flight of the Conchords fame). If you have not seen Flight of the Conchords, please take a moment to watch their series on HBO or go on a quick YouTube journey. If you are disappointed in what you find – I am not sorry.
This takes me back to “I’ll Get You What You Want” which, in retrospect, is one of the more “Flight of the Conchords” songs in the bunch. I can basically hear and see Bret singing it. (Fun fact! On the soundtrack they do actually have the demos of Bret singing some of the songs – if that’s what you’re in to 😉)
Plus, there is a line in that song that quite literally says “If you want an armadillo, I’ll give it to you.” And, that got me. I’ve been thinking about it for days.
If you haven’t seen this movie and are on the fence… First – why are you still reading this? Second – start with the soundtrack. If that doesn’t hook you, you may not love the tone of the movie. But, I seriously don’t know how you can avoid loving these songs. You can know they are silly, but it doesn’t matter. They are now ingrained in your mind forever!
SAM THE EAGLE
I’ll round this out by talking relatively briefly about the tour-de-force that is Ty Burrell as a French Interpol Officer playing opposite Sam the Eagle (obviously of the CIA).
Their dynamic is hands down my favorite, out of all of my other favorite things, in Muppets Most Wanted. We have a silly bit about large badges that goes on for too long in the best way possible. We have some hilarious French jokes. (Maybe it’s the fact that I’m living in Paris right now, but these were great.)
If the picture above doesn’t make you giggle - please take a moment to reflect on your hardened heart.
I think the real key to all of this working perfectly, rather than feeling, for lack of a better word, dumb, is Mr. Ty Burrell. Is he basically just doing a version of Inspector Clouseau? Sure. But, I think he knows that. It’s intentional and therefore great! He is committed, while still plays everything with a bit of a wink, and, ultimately, is having the best time. I genuinely felt the connection between him and Sam! The two of them were so cute.
We all know they are on an odd-couple-“maybe we’re not so different, you and I”-trajectory. The fun thing is, they know it too. And we all just get to have fun along the way.
Plot? Unimportant. Jokes that set something up that we immediately disregard in the next scene? Doesn’t matter if it’s funny! Non-sequitur? Nonsense? Non-problem.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
This movie is a freaking delight. Catchy songs, silly jokes, fun cameos, the colors, THE MUPPETS! Genuinely, what’s not to love? If you like The Muppets, watch this movie. If you love The Muppets, watch this movie. If you hate The Muppets, are you a sociopath? But seriously, even if you think this isn’t your cup of tea, I say give it a watch anyways. It’s fun!
