"Meet the Feebles" (1989)
A film review by Jason Wallis
"Meet the Feebles" * * * *
Starring Robert the Hedgehog, Heide the Hippo, Bletch the Walrus, Trevor the Rat, Sebastian the Fox, Harry the Hare, Lucille the Poodle, Wynard the Frog, Samantha the Siamese Cat and Sid the Elephant
Directed by Peter Jackson
Rated X for sex, nudity, profanity, violence, gore and general tasteless humor
Running 97 minutes
I've never seen a film quite like "Meet the Feebles", and I doubt that I ever will again. It is a film so crude, so tasteless and so lurid that one can only wonder how it was even released in the first place. However, it is also what is probably one of the most hilarious films I've ever seen, taking a backseat only to some of the Monty Python flicks. Yep, it's...an X rated puppet flick!!! And if you can just get past that concept without being completely turned-off and horrified, you're in for a real treat.
The Feebles are, essentially, the Muppets gone off the deep end. Instead of being cute and funny gripping about paychecks, the Feebles are too busy doing horrible, unspeakable things to each other to worry about their wages. But as bad as these characters are, director Peter Jackson puts a lovable spin on each and every one of his creations, making even such otherwise despicable characters as Trevor the rat (who films S&M porn movies in the basement) into genuinely likeable people.
The story revolves around one day and night during rehearsals for a live telecast of the "Feeble Variety Hour" (yet another spin on the Muppets) and the many problems that come up during this time. The star of the show is Heide, a very large hippo with some even bigger emotional problems, constantly stuffing herself with any kind of cake available and weeping over scrapbooks with pictures of her and Bletch, the walrus producer of the show. Walrus, unbeknownst to Heide, is having an affair with his secretary, a slutty Siamese cat named Samantha. On top of this, Robert (a hedgehog who pronounces his name "Wobert") has just landed a new job in the chorus, and Trevor (the aforementioned rat) is trying to recruit the poor hedgehog's poodle girlfriend Lucille as new talent for his smut pictures.
If this isn't enough, Wynard (the knife-throwing frog) is in the last stages of drug addiction and has problems not making Swiss cheese out of his assistants because of his extreme depression and shellshock regarding the Vietnam war (illustrated in a brilliant parody of "The Deer Hunter"), not to mention his drug withdrawal. And how could we forget the unfortunate hare named Harry, who has recently (due to his habit of all-night orgies) contracted a nasty little VD and has been diagnosed to have just twelve hours to live (kind of like a soap opera, eh?)? In the end, this all amounts to a brilliantly apocalyptic finale that is kind of like "Carrie" meets "Rambo".
And there's more...but I won't get into it, as one of the movie's chief pleasures is having the delightfully witty narrative unfold before you. What Jackson has done here is taken what would otherwise be a juvenile, disgusting and ultimately pathetic story and elevated it to become some sort of twisted masterpiece. I wasn't sure what to make of it when it was finally over, and I'm sure that other people might hate it, but that does not alter the fact that anyone who meets the Feebles will have a hard time forgetting them.
Copyright 1998 Jason Wallis
Visit Jason Wallis' "Filmaholics Anonymous" web site at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/7475
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