Sausage Party Review

Starring:  Michael Cera, James Franco, Bill Hader, Salma Hayek, Jonah Hill, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Danny McBride, Edward Norton, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig

By the time I saw Sausage Party this week, I had already seen the headlines. "The Most Offensive Movie Ever Made", "A Filthy Feast", "Literal Food Porn". It's the only other mainstream R-rated animated movie besides South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. The opening of the film is presented with enough whimsy and allure that it almost tricks you into believing it's a kids movie. There's a musical number and the animation is just so bubbly and child-like, almost second-rate compared to Disney and Pixar. Until that hot dog bun comes up. The sausages didn't really need an animator to make them sexual, but the buns have been specifically designed to be very "suggestive". Sausage Party is incredibly baffling. It presents ideas that are so brilliant, discussing religion, beliefs and morals, but then it throws it away for raunchy humor and trying to push boundaries. It's vexing that I still can't get a feel for whether I enjoyed it or not. Overall I laughed, but sometimes it was because I could not believe what I was seeing. Parents be cautioned...this is no children's movie.

The whole premise is that food is alive, and it doesn't know that it will be eaten by humans. The food in the supermarket anticipates when the "Gods" will take them to the "Great Beyond" and free them. It's obviously playing off of religion. When Seth Rogen's character Frank discovers the truth and tries to tell the food, they refuse to believe it. They would rather die and see the Great Beyond, because of what they've been promised. The idea of religion and that we believe "the best story" is really interesting. I wish it was explored more, and in more depth. I wish the movie settled with the idea that everyone can choose religion, and you can't force someone to believe. That's a message I wouldn't expect from Seth Rogen. Bickering between a Jewish bagel and a Muslim lavash mirrored the Israel-Palestine conflict, until someone points out that they have more in common then they think they do. It's so witty. But the conclusion of that storyline is that everyone has been lied to and the food tries to kill the people to achieve vengeance. Does that mean we need religion or we're savages? Am I looking too much into a raunchy food porno? Messages aside, I really appreciated the original humor. It was rarely "laugh-out-loud", but it's the type of clever humor that made me smile and chuckle to myself, mostly at the brilliant food puns. While some jokes might be seen as racist, I think overall they were pretty clever, though insensitive. There's a latina taco, African-American grits, and a gay twinkie. It's so stereotypical, and this movie doesn't hold back, making fun of just about every religion and race. The fact that it really hits everyone makes it seem a little more acceptable. Everyone got thrown on the cutting board and no one came back unscathed. I was promised a movie that would push boundaries and cross lines, and it certainly does that in every scene.

For all the interesting religious and cultural insights (a personal favorite is the African-American grits and Native American liquor getting their aisles replaced by crackers), Sausage Party throws it away for a VERY graphic orgy scene at the end. While the end result is so over-the-top, Sausage Party does present surprisingly mature ideas on sex and sexuality. The character of Brenda (brilliantly voiced by Kristen Wiig) has an interesting moral conflict. She and Frank broke through their packages to touch hands, and while he's on his mission for the truth, she feels everything that's happened, including falling out of their packages, seeing the truth, and getting lost, is because of their premature touching. Because "sex" is so repressed in this community, the food's belief system causes her to blame herself for everything. It's just like how many religions disapprove of sex before marriage, and shows how religion can really get in the way of people just trying to live. But, when she and Frank finally have sex, it's a ridiculously graphic scene. It's almost as if it was so repressed everyone turned into animals. It's just a free-for-all, and then the whole supermarket joins in. The Jewish bagel has sex with the Muslim lavash, and it's almost entirely just for shock value. While it was happening, I could not stop laughing, partly because I was so uncomfortable. Another sex story that's mishandled is the douche. This literal douche (he's the bad guy and it's a hilarious pun) wants revenge for being knocked out of the cart and losing his fluids. To do this, he rapes many characters to take their juices. It's shocking, and just not very funny. The discomfort I felt was kind of angering to see that happening. I wasn't offended, but I certainly don't think rape should be taken lightly.While it's genius to have a douche as a villain, his jaw-dropping actions really crossed the line for me.

While Sausage Party is interesting, and is certainly full of clever humor, I believe it throws all of it away for shock value. It's probablythe most inappropriate movie I've ever seen, and I don't know if it has any re-watchability. I can pick and choose certain scenes, and talking about it with friends who have seen it certainly bring some laughs, but I'm still confused about the film. I'm not even going to address the "twist" ending, which is the kind of introspective humor that belongs in Seth Rogen's This Is The End, not Sausage Party. If you're ready for what's "in store", go see Sausage Party. You truly have to see it to believe it. Words will never be able to accurately describe what is depicted.

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