Courtesy 20th Century Studios
There are people who watch Bob’s Burgers and there are people who really watch Bob’s Burgers. Its juvenile-meets-complex slapstick humor is a safe space for many, warm as a burger fresh off the grill. Sure, everyone talks over one another and screams a lot, but they are authentically themselves, and they love one another despite life’s difficulties. And yes, there are a whole lot of butts. If there weren’t, we’d riot.
If you’ve seen a single episode of the animated Fox show, you’ve seen this movie. Restauranteurs Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda Belcher (John Roberts) are denied a loan extension to pay off their restaurant equipment. Things get worse when a giant sinkhole opens in front of their business, halting any customer traffic and revealing a long-buried murder victim. If you’re new to this world, rest assured this is classic Bob’s territory: The parents fret with domestic woes while the children (Dan Mintz, Kristen Schaal and Eugene Mirman) go off on their own adventures—in this case, trying to solve said murder.
Even big-time fans might find their heads spinning from Bob’s Burgers’ breakneck pace. Its disparate plots don’t feel particularly balanced, and while the kids’ journey is plenty amusing, Bob and Linda are relegated to more predictable plot beats. The trio of Gene, Tina and Louise has proven popular amongst the millennials who build up the show’s fan base, but Bob is the heart of the show and we suffer when he’s offscreen too long. If Bob has only one conversation with a hamburger in 90ish minutes, that’s lost time—give us more patty talk, creators Loren Bouchard and Jim Dauterive!
While Bob’s venture to the big screen isn’t worthy of big-time plaudits, it isn’t a bad time, and the animation is even slightly better than on television. If anything, it’s comforting the filmmakers didn’t venture too far from the show’s usual formulas. This is a movie built more for longtime fans than general audiences, like a little treat because they’ve stuck around for 12 seasons. It proves the show is watchable, and maybe that’s good enough, but it’s hard not to wish that a new medium would have meant bigger things.
7
+Of course it’s fun
-There are better episodes
Bob’s Burgers The Movie
Directed by Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman
With Benjamin, Roberts, Mintz, Schaal and Mirman
Violet Crown and Regal, PG-13, 102 minutes
