Review: The Bob’s Burgers Movie

This Memorial Day weekend, the movies are back, baby! If you weren’t one of a billion people going to see Top Gun: Maverick this weekend, you might have treated yourself to new films from the two most medium shows on television: Downton Abbey and Bob’s Burgers.

It feels important to preface by saying that if you’re looking for the review of a Bob’s Burgers fan, you may want to look elsewhere. I was there when the show made its shaky Sunday night debut some eleven years ago. I’ve seen the great progress the show’s made since then, but it’s never really done it for me.

That being said, if you want an idea of how far the Belchers have come, this movie definitely lays it out. The characters’ emotional journeys are always front and center, and the dialogue has reached breakneck speeds. There’s also new ground broken by the film’s increased budget, with charming musical numbers and more detailed animation emphasizing the fluid, muppety character design.

The film sets its table rather quickly with the opening “Sunny Side Up Summer” song. Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) plans to ask the bank for a loan extension, but it gets denied. Tina (Dan Mintz) plans to ask Jimmy Jr. (Benjamin) to be her summer boyfriend, but she has second thoughts. Gene (Eugene Mirman) plans to reunite his band, but has doubts about their success. Louise (Kristen Schaal) wonders if it’s finally time to let go of her signature bunny ears.

While all these conflicts are explored, the real story begins when a sinkhole opens up in front of Bob’s restaurant, threatening his ability to pay off his debts. This, in turn, makes way for the real real story, in which the Belchers’ wealthy landlord Calvin Fischoeder (Kevin Kline) is framed for murder and the kids are determined to clear his name.

It’s strange to see this murder plot, only tangentially related to the established conflicts, take up the lion’s share of the movie. It seems that The Bob’s Burgers Movie is primarily influenced by The Simpsons Movie, which also adopts a “go big or go home” strategy with its plot. The problem is, the Belchers aren’t the Simpsons. While both are at their best on a smaller scale, the Simpsons had 20 years to build a tolerance for larger-than-life situations. In half that time, Bob’s Burgers has only grown inward.

[Spoilers in this paragraph!] The murder plot itself makes as much sense as its emphasis. The culprit turns out to be the Fischoeders’ lawyer and cousin, Grover (David Wain). It’s left unclear how he gets Calvin to be seen fighting the victim on the night of his death, but he plans to get his cousin convicted of a felony so he can take over the family trust. Since it’s made clear that Calvin has committed felonies, it seems like the much less messy strategy would’ve been simply ratting him out.

The other problems with the movie are, well, Bob’s Burgers problems. The dialogue has gotten exceptionally fast, but it still maintains a successful joke rate of no more than 10-20%. The joke structure rarely complements character, because for all their added details, the Belchers all speak in the same earnestly embarrassing voice.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie always seems to bite off more than it can chew. Creator Loren Bouchard and the team are determined to go big, but stop short of leaving the show’s familiar locales. The conflicts set up in the opening song and dance number become afterthoughts; they sort of resolve themselves somewhere along the way.
If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll find plenty to enjoy here. Even if you’re not, you’ll find a few moments of warm, Paddington-esque charm. Still, it stops short of being impactful, meaning it’ll only take you as far as you can tolerate the writing. B-

The Bob’s Burgers Movie is now in theaters.