The Muppets have always been a bit meta: In arguably his greatest film role, as a Hollywood producer in “The Muppet Movie,” Orson Welles took one look at Kermit the Frog and told his assistant, “Prepare the standard ‘rich and famous’ contract for Mr. Frog and friends.”
These days, the Muppet self-awareness and vaudeville DNA has recombined with “Flight of the Conchords” spoofery for an often delightful result. In “Muppets Most Wanted,” a zany Euro caper, Jason Segel and Amy Adams from 2011’s “The Muppets” are forgotten in favor of a new co-star, played by Ricky Gervais.
Kermit, reading his card: “Dominic Badguy?” “Bad-zhee. It’s French,” says Gervais. “It means, ‘good man.’”
“Conchords” co-creator James Bobin (who directed and co-wrote) and his co-author Nicholas Stoller have made a sketch-based film that, though heavy on plot, chugs along indifferently. When everything’s a gag, and you know everything’s going to turn out OK anyway, your attention tends to wander. The movie seems longer than it is, plus it’s just plain too long.
Ah, but those jokes are frequently brilliant. In some cases they’re not only over the heads of the kids but over the heads of 95 percent of the American public. If you don’t know what “die” means in German, you’ll miss one great joke, and if you don’t know that legend says the crown will fall if the ravens flee the Tower of London, you’ll miss another.
There’s an evil-twin plot that mocks musicals, Cold War flicks and prison movies (specifically “The Shawshank Redemption,” with Miss Piggy starring on the Rita Hayworth poster). “Constantine” is a diabolical version of Kermit the Frog (the only physical difference is a mole on his cheek) who breaks out of a Russian gulag. His motto: “It’s not easy being mean.”
Constantine reunites with his “Number Two” in crime, the Gervais character, who as the new Muppet manager takes them on tour to the capital of Germany because he wants to break into a museum. No one thinks the location is at all strange: “Now on to the world capital of comedy: Berlin, Germany,” says Badguy.
Tina Fey is adorable as a gulag guard who yearns to sing, but even better is Ty Burrell as a Clouseau-like Interpol inspector who competes with a CIA man (played by Muppet Sam the Eagle) to try to crack the case, as Constantine switches places with Kermit in the Muppet revue and schemes with Badguy to head to London to steal the Crown Jewels. Burrell’s “Jean” drives a wee Euro-car that’s so small, it fits in the aisle of a theater, drinks coffee out of a cup the size of a baby’s toenail and knocks off for the day at 2 p.m. I picture the French hating this movie.
“Conchords” star Bret McKenzie (whose co-star Jemaine Clement pops up as a gulag prisoner) composes another half-dozen funny songs, though none is quite as brilliant as the theme from “The Muppets,” “Man or Muppet,” which won him an Oscar. My favorite is the song in which No. 1 bad guy Constantine teases his junior partner, Badguy: “We’re criminals at large, but I’m at larger than you.” That number is almost as clever as the peek into the future, when we see what Piggy and Kermit’s babies will look like: One’s a green pig, the other’s a pink frog.