Meet the Feebles (Amazon Prime film)

Meet the Feebles is an upcoming Canadian-American musical dark comedy film on Amazon Prime based on the 1989 New Zealand film of the same name.

Differences
In the Amazon Prime adaptation, the characters are actual humans rather than life-size puppets. Wellington in the 1970's is replaced by present day Los Angeles.

Changes in the storyline

 * The characters are humans rather than puppets.
 * Microphones are used during the musical numbers in the Feebles show. Cast members who don't have solo songs use headset microphones, while Hilda, Marcus, Barry, and Jonas use handheld microphones for the joint performance and their solo songs.
 * With Whitney Bandeira representing Wynyard, she is the only character to be the opposite gender of whom she represents.
 * Steve tames plastic dolls rather than animals.
 * Hilda's flashback is in full color.
 * All the bullets Hilda fires miss her targets last minute.
 * In the epilogue, Hilda has served only a year in prison rather than a decade.

Plot
At the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, the Feeble Variety Hour theater troupe is rehearsing the title song with hopes of finding success through being picked up for a live broadcast on ABC. Hilda Paoli, the primary star, is insulted by sitcom director Tobias Borisevitz, and complains to her boss and boyfriend Bernardo Marsan, who is actually in an adulterous relationship with fellow showgirl Selma O'Doherty. Meanwhile, Robert Hasson, the newest member of the team, arrives at the venue, where he is accosted by reporter Francis Kruger, who tries to corrupt Robert into informing on the cast, meets the show's manager Arthur Hudeckovi, and immediately falls in love with another newcomer, Lucille Bortnick. Tobias is approached by knife thrower Whitney Bandeira looking for her fix, but the avocado salad have not yet been delivered. After Hilda finishes jogging, Selma insults her, and reveals her relationship with Bernardo, resulting in a fight between the two, in which Hilda throws her in a cardboard box. Robert confesses his love for Lucille with a beautiful song, and the two are a step closer to getting engaged thanks to Arthur's help.

After his Boohbah dolls accidentally get crushed by a barrel, plastic doll tamer Steve Koglin has Budweiser with Arthur, when the former receives a visit from his ex-girlfriend Sarah with his alleged son Sapporo. Sarah informs Steve she will be preparing a paternity case regarding whether or not Sapporo belongs to the alleged father. Backstage, Hilda cries while eating a slice of her favorite chocolate, leading to a flashback scene where she was an upcoming singer at a jazz club on the outskirts of Los Angeles, where Bernardo has an eye for talent and talks her into starring in his then-new Feebles show. In the present day, Bruno Choinowski joins Bernardo in a drug deal with Gary Fomenko, during which Bernardo and Gary deliberately sabotage each other during a game of golf, which ends with Bernardo winning.

Back at the theater, Daniel Callea eavesdrops on the show's secondary star Henry in a threesome with two women. Tobais is shooting a Bail Me Out episode in the basement with Michael Thorp-Gushiken and Dana Arikellian. They're interrupted by Robert, who mistakes the scene for torture and tries to save Dana, who in turn accidentally sits on Michael's backbone, injuring him. As a result, Michael is rushed to the hospital.

The director of the show, Jonas Akiyoshi, lambasts Robert for failing his part as an extra on the stage. As punishment, Jonas assigns Robert the task of replacing a Barbie, who has just been killed by Whitney's knife throwing while going through drug withdrawal. In the bathroom, Henry is suffering from a mystery illness, all while being harassed relentlessly by Francis. Whitney tells Robert her story of Michigan, and talks him into giving her $50 to buy drugs from Tobias. After seeing the latest episode of Bail Me Out starring Dana and the new co-star Daniel, Bernardo decides they need a new lead actress, and Tobias chooses Lucille. Henry passes out down some stairs, much to the surprise of fellow cast member Dolores Cioban, who yells for help. Fellow medical doctor Chad Distel gives Henry only 12 hours to live, both unaware of Francis spying on them from the ceiling above.

Adam Bomprezzi, the show's aerialist, accidentally breaks his left arm while trying to untangle himself from multiple scarves. Not happy with how the show is turning out, Jonas demands for his cover of "The Sodomy Song", uploaded on YouTube four years earlier, to be included, only to be turned down and thrown out by Bernardo.

Francis continues to harass Henry, ultimately reporting his illness to the tabloids. Tobias drugs Lucille and tries to rape her as an audition, but is caught by Robert. When he walks in on the scene, Robert thinks that Lucille was drinking and throwing herself at Tobias, and breaks up with her. After rehearsals for "The Garden of Love" are messed up, Jonas lambasts Hilda and points out a few crumbs of the cake she ate earlier being inside her cleavage, causing her to rush to Bernardo for emotional affirmation, but walks in on Selma performing oral sex on him. That night, after testing the drugs provided by Gary on Daniel, the drugs turn out to be borax, infuriating Bernardo. Gary's agent Lucas Flecker passes out after being force-fed some of the borax by Bernardo's goons.

Hilda locks herself in her room, throws a tantrum, and refuses to perform, but relents after Bernardo has make-up sex with her. After seeing the article of Henry's illness on the website for Los Angeles Times, Bernardo decides to retaliate, presumably wanting to avoid negative press on the cast. Lucille tries to convince Robert of her love for him, but he tells her the chances of seeing her again are very slim. Francis is sent to a psychiatrist in Tobias' favor. Shortly afterwards, Hilda attempts to seduce Bernardo in his office, but Bernardo confesses to Hilda that he actually hates her and wants to give the main role to Selma. This causes Hilda to mentally break down, and envisions the rest of the performers laughing at her.

Eventually, the big show begins but starts going awry. An ailing Henry winds up vomiting all over the stage during his performance, Steve is accosted by Sarah in the midst of his act, which causes it to fall apart, Whitney almost kills herself during her act when she loses her grip on one of her knives and it comes down behind her, and Jonas decides to take matters into his own hands. After a failed attempt at hanging herself, Hilda then tries to commit suicide with an M60 machine gun, but at that second, Selma walks into the room and taunts Hilda upon seeing her about to end her life. Hilda snaps, turns the gun on Selma, and almost kills the latter but the bullet lands above Selma's head. Jonas, in a poor and desperate attempt to save the show, sings "The Sodomy Song", causing the audience to remain silent after the performance ends while Jonas bows partakes in a group hug with his backup singers, much to the horror of Bernardo, who orders Tobias to kill Jonas. As Tobias does so, Hilda then goes on a shooting spree, injuring much of the cast, including Henry, Adam, Dolores, and others.

At the end of the show, Hilda continues her shooting spree, causing terrified fans to run out of the auditorium, and Steve braves the crazed Hilda's automatic fire to save his son, after Sarah is almost killed but dodges the bullet last minute. Jonas hides in Henry's giant broccoli-rocket, and is injured when Hilda causes it to go off and crash into a wall. Robert rescues Lucille from being shot and professes that he still loves her, and Lucille tells him the truth about Tobias' attempted raping of her. After Hilda shoots every other Feeble on stage, all of which dodge bullets last minute, Bernardo attempts to talk Hilda into surrendering, but Hilda opens fire on him and he drops from the balcony, hurting his head. Lying injured on the stage, Bernardo convinces Hilda to stop her rampage by proclaiming he still loves her, only for Tobias to shoot her in the shoulder from behind with a shotgun.

Bernardo, having tricked Hilda into letting her guard down, orders Tobias to kill her, only for Robert to intervene by swinging on a rope from the rafters and colliding with Tobias, incapacitating Tobias briefly enough for Hilda to reclaim the machine gun and runs backstage to toss his shotgun in the trash. Bernardo lunges at Hilda in a last ditch effort, but runs backstage in order to prevent himself form being killed, and dodges the bullet within a second. From backstage, Arthur tells Hilda that he regrettably had to tip off the police about Hilda's shooting rampage. Hilda accepts this and makes one last request before her impending incarceration - to play "The Garden of Love" once again, to which Arthur agrees. Tears run from Hilda's eyes as she reprises the song.

Although the whole cast survived the injuries, the epilogue only reveals the fates of seven Feebles: Steve gets extensive repair on his kneecaps after being accidentally shot by Hilda in her rampage and works in a greenhouse as a struggling horticulturist with his son Sapporo, who hopes to be a movie star in the future. Arthur received an OBE for his lifelong service at the theater and retires to a suburb of Los Angeles. Jonas recovers from his injuries and became a successful writer who achieved worldwide fame for his best seller, The Feeble Variety Massacre: One Man's Act of Heroism!, all while negotiating movie rights. Robert and Lucille are married and expecting a child within the next year, with Robert being an award-winning fashion photographer for a women's magazine. Finally, Hilda, whose shooting spree resulted in her imprisonment in a women's penitentiary for a year, has been rehabilitated into the community and now works on the check-out counter of Walmart.

Cast

 * Shawn Mendes as Robert Hasson
 * Demi Lovato as Hilda Paoli
 * Melani García as 16-year-old Hilda
 * Mark Vincent as Bruno Choinowski
 * Brandon Rogers as Bernardo Marsan
 * Bono as Arthur Hudeckovi
 * Ava Max as Lucille Bortnick
 * Vivian Nixon as Selma O'Doherty
 * Tatiana Maslany as Dolores Cioban
 * Atsushi Satō as Jonas Akiyoshi
 * Tom Cruise as Chad Distel
 * Tina Garabedian as Dana Arikellian
 * Lily Collins as Sarah Duncan
 * Wolfgang Van Halen as Gary Fomenko
 * Poppy as Whitney Bandeira
 * Richard Horvitz as Tobais Borisevitz
 * Brendon Urie as Francis Kruger
 * Bobby Andonov as Henry Gillis
 * Jake Horvitz as Daniel Callea
 * Aidan Bryant as Adam Bomprezzi
 * Jørgen Dahl Moe as Steve Koglin
 * Alex Shibutani as Michael Thorp-Gushiken
 * Phil Collins as Marcus Faber
 * Rob Thomas as Lucas Flecker

Soundtrack
The soundtrack is primarily covers of the songs from the original movie with one of the song's title being modified, but also contains licensed songs from years prior.