Review of The Muppet Movie (1979) by Gareth R — 05 Jul 2009

You don't need me to tell you that the Muppets are beloved, world-famous icons of TV and the movies. It's difficult to imagine a time when they were not, but that's the case now, and they confidently take over anything associated with them, matching wits with any actor, no matter the calibre. What's surprising - and what, I think, isn't nearly publicised enough - is how damn smart they are. The Muppet Movie isn't a particularly amazing film, but it's filled with enough instances of sheer postmodern wit for me to recommend it, not just so you can laugh for ninety minutes, but so you can see how the pros do it. When this is funny, it's absolute genius.

The story is a thin one, but that mostly just makes room for the gags. Kermit is a humble frog living in a swamp, until he happens upon a Hollywood talent agent (Dom DeLuise) who tells him he could be a sensation. Kermit has little better to do, so he makes his way to an audition with a bigshot director, picking up other Muppets (such as long-suffering comic Fozzie Bear) along the way.

Okay, it's not much of a plot. But besides the gentle cliches of Trying To Make The Big Audition In Time we have some really sublime humour. At one point, when hastening to explain what they've been up to, Kermit and Fozzie simply hand over the film script. What fourth wall?

The star cameos, as would become a tradition in Muppet movies, are excellent. Steve Martin is arguably funniest as an unnecessarily rude waiter (wearing oddly unnecessary short-shorts), while Mel Brooks is probably least successful as he tries to steal his scene as a crazy Nazi, evidently forgetting who he's playing against.

The romance between Kermit and Miss Piggy is surreally funny - which sadly wouldn't be the case when the Muppets revisited it again and again in later movies - and the script has so many gems that, honestly, I don't want to spoil any more of them. The strange shock of watching what you presume to be a kids' movie, and being met with an articulate deconstruction of film cliches, is a constant delight.

Alas, I said it wasn't perfect, and it's not. The story really is a little too lightweight, featuring a funny but overdone villain in Charles Durning, a crazed frogs' legs food mogul. It doesn't make use of enough actual Muppets, and it's studded with a number of dull-to-woeful songs. Happily, they disappear from memory as soon as they're over. But you do wonder, why did they bother putting them in there?

Happily, these are quibbles. The Muppet Movie is not the kind of thing that comes along very often. Watch it, and wave when they watch back.