Movies · Reviews

‘Sausage Party’ is a Smorgasbord of F-Bombs

Keep the kids at home for this raunchy and outrageous animated comedy from the minds of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
Sausage Party
Sony Pictures
By  · Published on August 11th, 2016

Seth Rogen is back at it again with another film you wouldn’t want to watch with your parents. This time he uses a wiener as his vehicle to showcase his elegant usage of f-bombs and weed jokes. Sausage Party certainly pretends to be in the same vein as Disney and Pixar movies, but quickly announces it has other intentions in mind. This is one cartoon that is for adults only.

The computer-animated comedy about the secret lives of grocery market food. You know, like Toy Story and its collection of toys. The bagels, corn, and various other foods sing out the glorious beginning of every day. The supermarket shelves are filled with items that long to be selected by “giants” to the glorious “great beyond” they have been promised.

The promised day has come for Frank the wiener (Rogen) and Brenda the bun (Kristen Wiig), where they will finally do more than “just the tip”. That’s the plan until a shopping-cart collision lands them outside of their packages. They roam the after-hours supermarket in search of the truth about the great beyond, meeting new friends along the way, and culminating in the wildest sex sequence in CG animated film history. If you thought the sex sequences in Team America were wild, well, wait till you’ve seen this.

Taking a page from Finding Nemo, a hot dog with a shortcoming, Barry (Michael Cera), gets separated from Frank and makes it to the “great beyond.” Barry and his supermarket friends feel like they have finally made it, but they learn the truth that their death is imminent. A hasty escape is made, but it is tough out there for a wiener. He will have to work with some new allies to get back to the supermarket and spread the truth.

Sausage Party is unapologetic with its depictions of race. The characters range from a Jewish bagel (Edward Norton) and an Arabic flatbread (David Krumholtz) who argue all the time; a sapphic taco (Salma Hayek) who doesn’t care about what is “right,” she just wants some of Brenda; finally, a douche (Nick Kroll), who is literally and figuratively a douche. Of course, that is only a few of the “delicious” stereotypes Rogen and Evan Goldberg have written into the film.

Although the film positions itself as a laugh riot, with its no-holds-barred dialog, Rogen and Goldberg also mix spirituality and political messages into the mix. Frank must prove to the other groceries of the supermarket that the great beyond might lead to their death. He doesn’t want to have faith that what they have always believed is correct, he wants proof. There’s also a sly dig at a certain political candidate telling Frank he needs to work with everybody, not exclude them. Perhaps Rogen and Goldberg missed their calling and should work on more subliminal messages.

After awhile the assault of crass language and overtly sexual situations grows thin, but luckily the movie knows not to overstay its welcome. That’s a good thing because the real laughs seem further apart in this feature as opposed to other films starring Rogen and company. There’s only so far the umpteenth dick joke can take you.

That being said, if you love Rogen’s earlier films This is the End and Pineapple Express, you should find plenty to love here. A lot of his trademarks are featured in this animated world, including a few groceries that have a special kind of weed of their own. A Rogen and Goldberg film would be incomplete without bringing back an old pop song and this one continues the tradition in glorious effect.

Sausage Party is a nasty, crass, and unique movie that only Rogen and Goldberg could concoct. Its best moments come when they are subverting Disney and Pixar features, with their own flavor. It is most definitely not for children and it may be too much for some adults. Even if Sausage Party doesn’t succeed as a laugh riot, it should be cherished since there is certainly nothing else like it.

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