Meet The Feebles (1989) is a black comedy film by director Peter Jackson. It features Jim Henson-esque puppets in a perverse comic satire. Like Henson's Muppets, the Feebles are animal-figured puppets (though some were people in suits) assembled together as members of a theatre troupe. However, whereas Henson's Muppets characterise the positivity, naïve folly, and innocence in humanity, the Feebles present negativity, vice, and other misanthropic characteristics. The movie has become a cult classic, and has enjoyed great popularity since Jackson's success with the Lord of the Rings films. During his acceptance speech at the 2004 Academy Awards, Peter Jackson mentioned the movie, noting that it had been "wisely overlooked by the Academy."
Plot summary
Meet the Feebles tells the story of the Feebles theatre troupe. They are a group of performers who, that night, are going on live network TV. If they are good enough, they will get picked up for a syndicated network show and everyone will get rich. Scenes involving violence, sexually explicit images, drug dealing, back stabbing, date rape, and death (including a snuff film within the film) follow.
The film begins with a rehearsal of the Meet The Feebles song where Heidi gets insulted by Trevor. She interrupts Bletch having sex with Samantha to talk to him about tonight.
Robert arrives at the theatre. The fly leads him to Arthur and give Robert his card. Heidi runs out for a bit of exercise. When Heidi returns she gets in fight with Samantha, locks herself in the lounge and has a flashback of when she met Bletch in a local pub in the 60s.
During this time, Bletch and Barry are playing golf with Cedric while they make another drug-deal and talk about the late delivery. When Bletch is about to make a hole-in-one Cedric interrupts him and Bletch takes revenge on the warthog by puking at him and in the process also puking up an auditioner for the troupe he ate earlier.
Back in the theatre, Eyes in The Sky and Dennis spy on Harry having an orgy with two other chorus girls. Dennis is spotted and thrown out. The fly sees his big scoop coming.
In the basement, Robert finds Trevor making another S&M flick where he thinks Madame Bovine aka Daisy is being assaulted for real. She accidentally kills the masked masochist by sitting on his face so Trevor sells the film as a snuff movie and realizes he knows just the replacement: Dennis.
At the toilet Harry asks himself what’s happening to him when he hear a voice from the toilet asking him if he doesn’t feel well. It’s the fly, who is eating Harry’s carrots together with poo. The fly threatens Harry and says that if he can’t find out Harry’s disease by himself, he’ll make it up.
Over at Winyard’s room [the boiler room], Robert listens to his story about hell and back in Vietnam and gives him 50 bucks as a donation to Vietnam veterans and is in need of a cash injection
Bletch is now watching the new porno with Trevor asking him if people still are interested in Madame Bovine and tells him they need a replacement. Trevor drugs Lucille and tries to rape her as an audition but gets accidentally caught by Robert. Robert thinks that she was drinking and that she wanted this. Robert tells her he never wants to see her again.
The ending sees Heidi go on a shooting spree with an M60 machine gun and killing Samantha, Harry, Sandy, Dorothy, Trevor and Bletch, among other surviving (nameless) members of the troupe. There is a brief epilogue sequence in which the fates of the notable survivors are shown. Sydney underwent surgery on his kneecap injuries and lives as a horticulturist with his son Seymour. Arthur received an OBE for lifelong service to the theatre and retired to the country. Sebastian wrote a book about the film's events which, it is indicated, may be less than accurate, and is currently negotiating the film rights. Robert and Lucile got married, started a family and Robert became a professional photographer for a women's magazine. Heidi spent a decade in a female penitentiary, was rehabilitated into the community and now works under a new identity at a large supermarket.
Production
The film was originally conceived for Japanese television and only belatedly became a feature; as such, the script was hastily re-written to be longer.[citation needed] It is often mistakenly stated that there are no human characters in the film; the character Abi is a human. However, there are no real-life human characters in the film. Peter Jackson has a cameo as an audience member dressed as an alien from "Bad Taste". The dialogue was recorded before shooting began. Money ran out during production, so one scene featuring a flashback to Vietnam was filmed separately (with a different budget) as The Frogs of War. This scene includes a game of Russian roulette as a parody of The Deer Hunter.
Every vehicle seen in the movie is a variation on the Morris Minor, including a specially constructed limousine. Morris Minors also appear in Jackson's other movies Bad Taste and Braindead. According to the Internet Movie Database, the production team could not get hold of blank rounds for the M60 machine gun used in the movie and therefore the gun was firing live ammunition.
Character list
- Robert (Wobert) (hedgehog) - A new member of the troupe. He has no vices. He falls in love with Lucile. He has a speech disorder, causing rhotacism.
- Bletch (walrus) - The villainous boss of the troupe. He acts as producer for the Feebles troupe, runs porn and drug businesses on the side, and is mean as well. He is in a long-term relationship with Heidi while in an adulterous relationship with Samantha.
- Heidi (hippo) - A singer and dancer, she is the big star of the show. She is in a relationship with Bletch. She has bipolar tendencies and when upset, she overeats.
- Lucille (poodle) - Chorus girl who falls in love with Robert after he courts her. At one point, Trevor drugs and attempts to rape her.
- Trevor (rat) - Bletch's enforcer and henchmen. Directs pornography and manages the drug business on the side but he is murdered by Heidi.
- Arthur (worm) - The friendly stage manager. His appearance resembles a book worm. Is an avid cigar smoker.
- Sebastian (fox) - The homosexual stage director with a penchant for sodomy - including an entire song about it. It is presumed he lost an eye during the film's events since the epilogue for the surviving characters shows him with an eye patch.
- Wynyard (frog) - Addicted to "every barbiturate known to man". He is a Vietnam veteran who gets flashbacks about the war and throws knives for the show. He accidentally kills himself during his knife throwing performance. He could possibly be a parody of Kermit the Frog, and also the Reverend Jim character portrayed by Christopher Lloyd from the TV series Taxi.
- Samantha (cat) - A showgirl and Bletch's mistress.
- Harry (rabbit) - Satyristic MC who contracts "the big one", a fatal STD. It is apparently myxomatosis but Harry later finds out it's just "bunny pox."
- Fly-in-the-sky (fly) - Stereotypical paparazzo bent on breaking Harry's story. After he publishes it, Bletch and Trevor track him down, rip his wings off and flush him down a toilet.
- Sidney (Sid) (elephant) - Animal trainer who thinks that he has terrible luck. Though he initially denies being Seymour's father, when Seymour is threatened with death in the slaughter which closes the film, Sid acknowledges him and runs to his rescue.
- Sandy (chicken) - Has Sid's child out of wedlock. He denies it is his and for this, she is bringing a paternity suit against him.
- Seymour (hybrid) - The baby of Sidney and Sandy. He is a half elephant and half chicken hybrid.
- Barry (bulldog) - Bletch's driver and enforcer. After raiding the docks with Bletch and Trevor to gain drugs, a giant spider bites off his head.
- Giant spider (spider) - A sentry for shed 11 warehouse. After it kills Barry it climbs onto the limo trying to kill Bletch and Trevor. It gets killed when Trevor rams it into a cargo net. Its green blood hits the windshield and falls limp off the car.
- Dennis (either an anteater or aardvark[citation needed]) - After "The Masked Masochist" dies, he is convinced by Trevor to take a part in the porn movie. It looks like semen drips from his nose which is attributed by Harry to a problem with his jizzum pressure. He also has a penchant for sniffing panties. He dies after sniffing up borax.
- Abi (human) - The only human character, an Indian snake-charmer and contortionist who physically appears to be a parody of Gandhi. Gets his head stuck in his rectum and when he pulls it out, a bed of nails crushes him.
- Cedric (wild boar) - A Scottish boar who is part of a large gang, a golfer and tries to double cross Bletch in a drug deal. He is killed when Barry stabs him with a knife.
- Louie (dog) - Cedric's side-kick who is a stereotypical "mangy mutt". He is killed by being force fed borax by Bletch after finding out the drug trade was a scam.
- Mr. Big (whale) - Cedric and Louie's boss. Bletch orders Trevor to drive his car through Mr. Big's mouth and they exit out of his anus.
- Madam Bovine (cow) - Heavily pierced and large-uddered cow who stars in Trevor's porn. She is never seen again after the filming of the porn with Dennis.
- "The Masked Masochist" (weta) - Actor in Trevor's porn. Dies after Madam Bovine unknowingly crushes his face and suffocates him. Trevor feeds his body to a monstruous whale-like creature.
- Dorothy (sheep) - One of the few minor characters of the theater troupe that is given a name. Her name is mentioned by Heidi before the show's debut.
- Dr. Quack (duck) - Harry's doctor who told Harry about his illness but later told him the truth when he found out what it really was.
- A Jesus Christ-like character in the Feebles universe appears to be a Kermit the Frog-like frog. This is shown in the form of a crucifix held by Harry when he is praying to God to recover from his sickness.
Sub-plot summaries
The plot follows several interconnected side stories.
Love Triangle
The movie opens with a distraught Heidi who runs to Bletch after being insulted by Trevor. Bletch is having sex with Samantha, but hides the tryst. Although Bletch is physically disgusted with Heidi, he insincerely comforts her since he needs her talent on the show.
Later outside, Samantha insults Heidi, claiming Bletch really wants Samantha. Distraught, Heidi drowns her sorrows in an entire chocolate cake, as she reminisces about her past romance with Bletch in a black-and-white flashback to her days as a lounge singer. The flatulence from the cake causes Heidi to lay waste to the set during the rehearsal of a feature number. Sebastian lambastes her for overeating and thus destroying the set.
Heidi again rushes to Bletch for emotional affirmation, but he is unable to spare her the sight of Samantha performing oral sex on him. Heidi locks herself in her room and refuses to perform, but relents after Bletch has make-up sex with her.
Heidi's performance secures the Feebles a syndicated series. Shortly afterwards, Heidi attempts to seduce Bletch in his office, but Bletch completely disowns her since Samantha can now be the star of the show. Unfortunately, Bletch is unaware of Heidi's extremely fragile mental state.
Robert and Lucile
Robert shows up for his first day as a cast member, and is accosted by the Fly, who tries to corrupt Robert into informing on the cast.
Arthur rescues Robert and shows him around, where Robert sees Lucile for the first time. Although he is romantically terrified of her at first, he later summons up enough courage to ask her out and they fall in love. Later in the movie, Trevor drugs Lucile (to manipulate her into performing in his pornography films). Robert walks in on the drugging, but misinterprets it as Lucile's decision, and disowns her for being a drunk. They make up later after Robert saves her from Heidi's crazed gun rampage, and eventually get married.
The Big One
Dennis is shown peeping on Harry in a threesome with two female rabbits. Harry feels physically ill after this episode and is accosted by the Fly, who assumes he has an sexually transmittable disease (STD) and wants to publish the scandal. Dr. Quack diagnoses Harry with "The Big One". After vomiting all over the stage in the live performance, he finally learns that he only has 'bunny pox'. Unfortunately, while rejoicing in the news that "The Big One" will not cause his death, Harry's head is blown apart by Heidi's gunshot rampage. The Fly publishes the scandal in a local tabloid - to the dismay of Bletch, who presumably wants to avoid negative press on the cast. Trevor lures the Fly into the washroom, where Bletch tears his wings off and flushes the Fly down the toilet.
Sexcapades
Trevor is shooting a porn movie in the basement with the Masked Masochist and Madam Bovine. They are interrupted by Robert, who mistakes the scene for torture and tries to save the cow, who in turn accidentally crushes the Masked Masochist, suffocating him. Trevor later replaces him with Dennis (who has a snout resembling male genitalia) to perform 'nasal sex' on Madam Bovine.
Drug Running
Trevor is approached by a sniveling Wynyard looking for his fix, but the drugs have not yet been delivered. Bletch is later shown on a golf course consummating a deal with Cedric. However, after testing on Dennis, the drugs provided by Cedric turn out to be household borax, infuriating Bletch. Louie (Cedric's agent) is literally liquidated after being force-fed some of the borax by Bletch's henchmen.
Bletch and his cronies venture to the docklands to fight Cedric and his crab-crewmen. Bletch's side prevails after killing Cedric and the crabs, maneuvering past a huge spider, and driving through the insides of Cedric's boss Mr. Big. However, Barry's head is eaten by the spider.
When the drugs finally arrive at the theatre, Wynyard is finally able to get his fix, which puts him into a stupor.
The Show
While the cast performs an opera number, Sebastian lambastes Robert for not acting his part as an extra on the stage. As punishment, he assigns Robert the task of being Wynyard's assistant, who was just killed by Wynyard's drug-withdrawal knife throwing. He later reluctantly approaches Wynyard, who is still in the throes of withdrawal. Wynyard guilt-trips Robert into giving him money after telling him a horror story about his time in Vietnam (shown as a flashback parody of the movie The Deer Hunter). He eventually gets his fix from Trevor and injects himself into a deep slumber.
The acts gradually disintegrate - Heidi nearly destroys the set by botching a swing, the Indian mystic incapacitates himself by contorting his head into his rectum, and Sid's tribble-like pets are crushed by a barrel. Seeing his show in shambles, Sebastian tries to convince Bletch to feature his personal performance, the sexually explicit number 'Sodomy'. This is summarily rejected by Bletch, who physically throws Sebastian out of his office. Sebastian decides to use the number anyway and performs it in front of the live audience, to Bletch's horror.
The Elephant and the Chicken
Sandy accuses Sid of being the father of their chicken-elephant baby, to his dismay and denial. During the live show, Sandy again accosts Sid on stage with the paternity suit. During a later tragic crossfire scene, Sid braves the crazed Heidi's automatic fire to save his baby. His heroism costs the elephant two bloody knee wounds, and he accidentally crushes Sandy's shot-off head after it squawks out one final invective.
The Climax
While the live show is proceeding elsewhere, Heidi attempts suicide by hanging, but her weight breaks the chandelier from the ceiling and she falls through the floor. She makes her way to Bletch's machine gun and tries to kill herself, but at the last moment, Samantha shows up and taunts her. She responds by pumping Samantha full of lead, then rampages over the entire set. She finally finds Bletch and pumps many rounds into him as well - although she feels terribly guilty doing so. Realizing that she killed her love, she gives up her gun and sadly sings "Garden of Love", leading into the epilogue and credits.
Cast (voice only)
- Donna Akersten as Samantha the Cat / The Sheep
- Stuart Devenie as Sebastian / Dr. Quack / Daisy the Cow / Sandy the Chicken
- Mark Hadlow as Heidi / Robert / Barry the Bulldog
- Brian Sergent as Wynyard the Frog / Trevor the Rat / The Fly
- Peter Vere-Jones as Bletch / Arthur the Worm
- Mark Wright as Sid the Elephant / The Cockroach / Louie the Fish
- Danny Mulheron as Heidi the Hippo
- Jay Snowfield as Killer man
- Doug Wren as Bletch
Critical reception
During its limited theatrical release in North America in 2002, the critic James Berardinelli wrote, "The stories of these ... characters are told in a disgustingly graphic, obscenely offbeat, and caustically funny manner. Meet the Feebles is for those with a strong stomach and a seriously warped sense of humor. The film is so off the beaten track that it makes Monty Python seem mainstream."[1] Rachel Sanders called it alternatively repulsive and magnificent.[2] Rotten Tomatoes gives it a Fresh rating of 76%, based on 20 reviews (as of June 2009).[3]
See also
References
External links
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