Either way, you win the existential lottery in The Muppets’ promo video for the song “Man or Muppet?” The clip, which arrived Friday on YouTube, makes up one of the finest scenes from the year’s coolest musicomedy, wherein Jason Segel — who starred, co-wrote and executive-produced The Muppets — and his Muppet bro Walter (Peter Linz) spend a dark night of the soul sweating out an existential ballad of self-awareness.
The Muppets ‘ songs crack wise enough for the postmodern musical set, who, sparked by South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, eventually helped Glee go viral. That task was taken care of nicely by director James Bobin, co-creator of the classic musicomedy series Flight of the Conchords, whose Bret McKenzie served as The Muppets’ music supervisor and wrote three of the movie’s original show tunes.
But The Muppets’ earnest metafiction goes deep like Inception . It’s a great Disney film about the stars of Jim Henson’s television show, who are searching now for a new series in a brutal millennium of formulaic films and desensitized television. ( The Muppets’ fictional competition? That kids’ favorite called Punch Teacher.)
That cerebral premise, as well as cornball cameos from Jack Black, Dave Grohl, Neil Patrick Harris and more, help keeps The Muppets mostly free of the cloying cheese one might expect from power balladry like “Man or Muppet?” Screen the reel and school us on the post-millennial Muppets in the comments section below.
