The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022)

The Bob's Burgers Movie (aka Bob's Burgers) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

The Bob’s Burgers Movie is very much like the Bob’s Burgers show. That’s its biggest strength and also its biggest weakness. If you adore the retro-scripting style comedy that Loren Bouchard has been perfecting since Doctor Katz and Home Movies, you’ll probably dig how much of the same humor translates to the big screen. However, if you’re expecting more than the show has to offer, like, say, some nudity or a curse word, you might be out of luck.

Of course, this isn’t to say that The Bob’s Burgers Movie must show some skin or chuck out some F-bombs to be a worthy movie. Those are just easy ways to justify making the transition. When adapting a show into a movie, the big question always comes up: Is there something here I can’t get in the show? Beyond more musical numbers and an increased animation budget that allows for more shadows, there’s not a whole lot.

This isn’t to say the narrative itself isn’t interesting. The Belcher family once again faces hard times when a sinkhole opens right next to their restaurant. It’s poor timing considering that the family is facing hard times and needs some cash to make their next loan payment. Further complicating the matter is the discovery of a dead body in the hole from years ago. Somebody within this boardwalk empire murdered this man and the Belcher kids decide to take it upon themselves to finger the culprit.

There’s plenty for all the characters to do in this story. The married couple Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda (John Roberts) try to raise funds for the restaurant by taking on new tactics that involve makeshift burger carts and burger suits with bikinis. The kids are getting ready for summer and all have their ideal goals. Louise (Kristen Schaal) wants to be seen as more grown up and fears her bunny hat may be something she has to abandon to seek maturity. Tina (Dan Mintz) is hoping to finally get more open with her crush of Jimmy but can’t quite muster the confidence to ask him to be a summer boyfriend. Gene (Eugene Mirman) has dreams of stardom and wants to become a rock star with his custom-made instrument of common restaurant items.

The best way to describe the film is that there’s enough. There’s enough for the characters to do, enough of a mystery to decipher, enough quality animation, and enough humor to be as funny as the TV show. The musical numbers are sure to be the biggest draw and while they’re not exactly earworms, they’re still pleasing sequences. Watching Louise dance around carnies while chiming in with her lyrics about growing up amid carnie's confessions is quite the sight. Listening to Bob and Linda sing a peppy song before their bank visit only to be denied a loan extension is the perfect punctuation and very much in line with the show’s working-class humor.

Perhaps it’s the simple focus on the characters that hold the film back from feeling bigger. While the murder mystery angle is unique and leads to some revealing sequences of the family coming together, it feels like such a film could have done more. Think about the abundance of characters and how much fun it would be if the Belcher family started interrogating all of them. It would make sense not to do this if the film were aiming to not require you to know a whole lot of Bob’s Burgers episodes to understand all the characters. Yet the film expects you to be familiar enough with the Fischoeder family to decipher their connections to the murder.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie is a solid extended episode with a handful of moments that are decently funny. I was amused while watching the show but no more than I would be watching a new episode at home. So while the movie is an okay continuation of Bouchard’s animated sitcom hit, it’s not exactly one worth running out to the theater to see. It’s best watched amid a collection of episodes.