The Muppet Man Script Review (Black List #1)

The Muppet Man

Jim Henson with a few of his famous creations

It’s the script everyone’s talking about. Christopher Weekes’s big-time biopic of Jim Henson that topped this year’s black list.  Is it good, great, or awesome?

It’s all of the above. In that order.

The script itself has taken some heat because Weekes wrote it on spec without supposedly reading any books about Henson and using Wikipedia as a source.  In many ways, this makes sense when you read it – the historical parts of the script (basically Henson’s life) feel like Cliff Notes version of a great imaginative man who is being shortchanged.  And Weekes decides to go over everything in Henson’s career so the entire second act about Sesame Street and The Muppet Show seems rushed to say the least.  Henson deserves better.

With this major problem, why was the script so well praised in the Black List?  I’ll tell you.  The framing device of Henson’s last days that pervades the script is spot-on.  I’m not sure what the historical accuracy of these scenes are, but they do pack an emotional wallop.  And even though Henson’s life feels shortchanged, it seems like you get a good sense of a great man from his achievements and his actions in these last days.  When you hit the final 10-15 pages, the whole thing erupts in greatness.  If you don’t feel something, even from reading them, you need to reevaluate whether or not you have a soul.  I won’t ruin it, but let’s just say its a tear-jerker.

The most unusual part of Weekes’s script is the use of Muppets (mostly Kermit) to guide Henson in his last days.  Kermit the Frog, in the first 10 pages is overweight and drinking, not quite your usual treatment of a beloved character.  However, it works.  The surreal aspect of having the Muppets show up is Weekes’s best weapon in his arsenal, and best brings together who Henson truly was – a very imaginative and deeply troubled (if Weekes would have us believe) man.

All in all, a great script that will have a tough time getting produced – Disney would have to sign off for them to use the Muppets characters and Children’s Television Workshop, the Sesame Street characters – and with their portrayal it is a lose-lose situation for the film. Without them the movie falls apart and their portrayals don’t exactly fit the family standards of the two companies.  It’s a shame, because with the right Henson (I picture Tom Hanks killing it in this meaty role) and a great director with an eye for combining fantasy and reality (paging Michel Gondry) this would be a shoo-in for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Final Score (8 out of 10)