Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story

In the end, the story of the show Ren & Stimpy is a fascinating one, especially for fans and anyone who wants to push boundaries in Hollywood. It also doesn’t make a hero out of John Kricfalusi, who still desires admiration and sympathy.

A very entertaining recap that grows more disturbing as it wades into the dysfunctional behavior that doomed the show.

When the movie does turn to the predatory behavior, it mostly feels like an aside; one gets the distinct impression that the filmmakers had to scramble to insert some uncomfortable new material into their otherwise completed documentary.

For documentary fans, it’s a haphazardly paced and awkwardly structured film that struggles to organically incorporate each facet of the tragic “Ren & Stimpy” story, ultimately giving too short a shrift to the greatest tragedy of all.

I spent the first hour of Happy Happy Joy Joy guiltily feeling like I needed a rewatch of Ren & Stimpy — it's an important series and there's no pretending otherwise — and the next 35 minutes feeling dirty about the whole thing and the last 10 minutes getting actively angry about how the entire story had been framed and reduced to "difficult genius" cliches.