Meet The Feebles
This 1989 release from the future Oscar-winning director of the Lord Of The Rings films, Peter Jackson, has to go down as one of the sickest, most twisted, and yet most brilliant and audacious pieces of work ever. The basic concept is simple: An R-rated (or perhaps NC-17) Muppet Movie, in which the titular puppet characters are shown to display behind the scenes all the worst possible qualities of human nature or any form of civilized behavior imaginable. Revolving around a Muppet Show-like variety program that is preparing to make its first live broadcast (in a world where every character is a living breathing felt puppet representing some kind of animal), the whole show is run by Bletch, an evil walrus who deals drugs, produces porn films, is screwing a Siamese cat behind the back of his hippo-diva star, and is willing to scarf down any poor puppet who tries to audition for him and doesnât do a good job. But as it turns out, thereâs more degenerates who are a part of this happy happy song and dance show, including but not limited to: a sex happy rabbit who comes down with VD, a heroin-addicted alligator who performs as an unsteady knife thrower, a shit-eating fly who moonlights as a tattletale media reporter, a gay fox who comes on stage and does a song and dance number about the joys of sodomy, a manic-depressive elephant dealing with a paternity suit (from a chicken), a horny anteater who has a thing for sniffing panties and is recruited for the porn films, a strange guru-type contortionist who winds up sticking his own head up his ass (permanently), and best of all, a sleazy, dirty rat named Trevor who deals the heroin to the alligator, shoots the porn films, drugs and attempts rape on the innocent young poodle in the chorus, and gets without a doubt the best one-liners in the movie. That Jackson would have the sheer chutzpah to even attempt a project like this (and on an ultra-low budget too) shows that the man had a genius cinematic vision way before he got into making mainstream Hollywood flicks, not to mention a sick sense of humor as well, as seen in a Vietnam flashback scene that succeeds in spoofing both Full Metal Jacket AND The Deer Hunter, and where the Viet Cong are portrayed as evil little beavers. The paradox lies in the idea that the more depraved and twisted the puppet character is, the better and more entertaining they come off as (such as the rat), which leads to the filmâs big fault with having the inclusion of the âheroâ of the story, a wimpy, wussy, porcupine named Robert (or âWobbertâ due to his sickeningly cutesy speech impediment) who has just joined the cast, and worse, is portrayed as a holier-than-thou voice of morality (not to mention a rogue element who doesnât do what the others tell him), when in actuality he is the weakest, and easily the most annoying character in the film, and why Jackson decided to include a character such as this seems to be the one bow he takes towards a conventional narrative. As such, it can be said that the few âniceâ characters are also the least entertaining (such as the worm stage manager), and then there is the aforementioned âdivaâ hippo (obviously based on Miss Piggy), who comes off as a disgusting, binge-eating beast even as sheâs portrayed as sympathetic, who eventually snaps at the end and goes on a rampage (and the so-called âheroâ Robert actually SAVES her), that shows that even the twisted morality is a bit out of whack, because the film would have worked better if there were NO redeeming characters in the mix. Nonetheless, the lengths that Jackson does go in presenting his cute, furry creations as using profanity, drugs, having sex, and just about every other degenerate activity possible makes this one for the ages, something that certainly no other filmmaker will ever attempt at any point ever again, and that makes it a must-see for any other fans of gross-out humorâŚ
9/10