One doesn’t talk, the other talks entirely too much. I’m not talking about Jay and Silent Bob, this is “Mute & Motormouth” an animated short from filmmaker Jeff Perlmutter. The two, um, people, animals, things, I can’t quite tell exactly what “Mute & Motormouth” are, but these buddies cruise the ghetto hungry for pizza when they a approached by a Black prostitute. In the middle of some business, the hooker actually gives birth — in explicit detail. It’s perhaps the most disgusting image ever rendered in cartoon form, especially because the illustration style is much like that seen by millions of kids today. Imagine a “Rugrats” cartoon with nudity and premature births and you can picture what I mean. Or maybe you don’t want to.
Perlmutter, a Klasky-Csupo employee, spends his day toiling on cute stuff for Nickelodeon, but “M&M” is his own very personal work and — WOW! — this is as dark as animated comedy gets. I wonder if his co-workers know about Jeff’s dark side? Anyone who discovers this animated short may find themselves laughing and puking all at once. Really fun and really gross. You have been warned.
Eight years after seeing this masterwork of macabre humor, its imagery still haunts my soul. Is that a good thing? I think I’d have to watch it again to be sure, though I can’t find it anywhere. That’s a bad thing. A very bad thing.