Sausage Party

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have proven to be a great comedic duo, their screenplays include Superbad, Pineapple Express, The Interview, and This Is The End. This last film especially had audience’s picking up on their incredible creativity. Their latest outing is their first animated film: Sausage Party, but this isn’t a kid’s film, quite on the contrary, it’s the farthest from a kid’s film you could get.

Sausage Party is the story of… food; how supermarket foods are living and sentient beings whose greatest wish is to be chosen by us, humans. The story mainly focuses on two lovers: a sausage called Frank (Seth Rogen) and a hotdog bun named Brenda (Kristen Wiig). As seen in this film’s trailer, food soon learns the horrible truth that humans murder and eat them, so Frank makes it his mission to tell everyone at the supermarket, that their dream is all an illusion and a lie.

One of the most interesting aspects of this film wasn’t the talking food or the vulgar jokes, it was the subtle study of religion, how some people are blinded, how some non-believers are disrespectful, and how different ethnicities (or foods in this case) are too blinded by stereotypes. It was a philosophical lesson I wasn’t expecting from these screenwriters, and I was so delighted to be treated to. It reminded me a slimmer of Zootopia, with the same symbolism of characters used to talk about race and religion.

This brings me to another choice in the screenplay of giving each food an ethnic and stereotypical personality: bagels are Jews, pita bread is Arab, mustard is German, tequila is Mexican, tea bags are British, Meatloaf is Meatloaf, etc. It was a bold choice that looks to offend and play off of society’s sensibility towards our subtle racism.

Then there is the incredibly vulgar humor of Rogen and Goldberg’s films. During most of the film, the story toed the line of risqué, and was really well balanced, but there was one particular scene towards the end, where the foods at the store all have one extremely graphic orgy that was completely unnecessary. It was overextended, ribald, and disgusting for the sake of it.

And then there’s the cast. I doubt many of you will recognize the voices during the film, when the credits roll you’ll probably be gaping as you realize you’ve been listening to Paul Rudd, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, James Franco, and Bill Hader (he voices two characters). It was an impressive display of star-power, all of whom are close to Rogen and Goldberg, who have toiled to get this film to the screen for the last nine years. It’s truly wonderful to see so many artists come together to make a passion project like this.

So in the end Sausage Party is a bold, if sometimes too crude, comedy that almost by mistake becomes a philosophical conversation. But best of all is that you’ll be laughing some of the biggest laughs of the year.

8.0/10