Movies - Meet the Feebles

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	Movies - Meet the Feebles

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 theater troupe. However, whereas Henson's Muppets characterize positivity, naïve folly, and innocence in humanity, the Feebles present negativity, vice, and other misanthropic characteristics.

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.

Character List

Heidi (hippo) - The star of the show. Severely bipolar. When upset, she overeats.
Bletch (walrus) - The boss. He runs the Feebles troupe, runs porn and drug businesses on the side, and is mean as well. He's in a long-term relationship with Heidi (or possibly married but this is not elaborated on) while in an adulterous relationship with Samantha.
Samantha (cat) - A prostitute and Bletch's mistress.
Harry (rabbit) - Satyristic narrator who contracts "the big one", a fatal STD. Some speculate the disease is either AIDS or myxomatosis. Harry later finds out it's just "bunny pox."
Trevor (rat) - Bletch's enforcer. Directs pornography and manages the drug business on the side.
Arthur (worm) - Stage manager. His appearance resembles a book worm.
Sidney (Sid) (elephant) - Animal trainer. Was once married to Sandy and wears a wifebeater undershirt.
Sandy (chicken) - Has Sid's child out of wedlock. He denies it is his and for this, she is putting a paternity suit on him.
Seymour - The baby of Sidney and Sandy. He is a half elephant and half chicken hybrid.
Robert (Wobert) (hedgehog) - A new member of the troupe. He has no vices. He falls in love with Lucile.
Fly-in-the-sky (fly) - Stereotypical paparazzo bent on breaking Harry's story.
Sebastian (fox) - The homosexual stage director with a penchant for sodomy - including an entire song about it.
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.
Lucile (poodle) - Chorus girl. Robert falls in love with her.
Barry (bulldog) - Bletch's driver and enforcer.
Sedric (wild boar) - Tries to double cross Bletch in a drug deal. He is also Scottish.
Mr. Big (whale) - Sedric's boss.
Madam Bovine (cow) - Heavily pierced cow who stars in Trevor's porn.
"The Masked Masochist" (cockroach) - Actor in Trevor's porn. Dies after Madam Bovine unknowingly sits on his face and suffocates him. Trevor feeds his body to a monstruous whale-like creature.
Dennis (either an anteater or aardvark?) - 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 and he has a penchant for sniffing panties. He dies after sniffing up borax.
Louie (dog) - Sedric's side-kick.
Abi (human) - Unlike the other characters that are animals, he is human. His race is Indian and is an obvious parody of Gandhi. Gets his head stuck in his rectum and when he pulls it out, a bed of nails crushes him.
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.

The ending sees Heidi go on a shooting spree with a machine gun and killing most of the surviving members of the troupe. The ones that live go their separate ways in life.

Cultural Impact

The movie has become a cult classic, and has enjoyed great popularity since Jackson's success with The Lord of the Rings
. During his acceptance speech at the 2004 Academy Awards, Peter Jackson mentioned the movie, noting that it had been "wisely overlooked by the Academy."

Trivia

Money ran out during production, so the flashback to Vietnam was quietly 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
.

Peter Jackson was unable to locate blanks, so Heidi's machine-gun rampage was filmed with the gun firing live ammuntion.

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