Sausage Party

Voices of: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek, Anders Holm, Harland Williams
Directed by: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon
Rating: R
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
2016

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A hotdog (Seth Rogen) discovers the beliefs about the "Great Beyond" is really just a story to cover up the fact that food is consumed by humans.

Review:

Tim: So, I have to give Sausage Party some credit. It's not every day that you watch an R-rated animated film about food that has no qualms about embracing vulgar language, rampant sexual innuendos, and gross out humor. That's the biggest attraction of the film- the novelty of it all. Once that novelty wears off, you're left with a fairly decent movie- however, it's hard to get overly excited about what's here. Still, for the clever food innuendos alone, this movie is worth seeing (as long as you aren't easily offended).

The story deserves some applause for at least attempting to be more than penis jokes (he's a hotdog, get it?). The basic premise that food lives in the grocery story and their eternal goal is to go to the Great Beyond, which is food paradise. This is an obvious riff on the world's religions and the beliefs in heaven after death. This didn't really bother me, because it's a ballsy move to spoof the beliefs that many humans, regardless of denomination or faith, hold most dear. The movie lampoons this pretty hard and you have to chuckle at some of the ridiculousness of it all. None of it is especially poignant, but the movie went deeper than just sexual jokes. I appreciated the look at religion, culture, etc. It was absurd, but it gave this movie a little added depth.

Is Sausage Party funny? I certainly laughed at various points throughout the film. Seth Rogen co-wrote the script, so you should have an idea of the kind of humor present. I did laugh multiple times, but so many of the jokes are food-related (as you'd expect). While this is occasionally incredibly clever (in a "I'm surprised they were able to pull that pun off" kind of way), it ultimately loses its effectiveness. I don't know how many food jokes is too many, but this film certainly supersedes that quota. Eventually, I grew tired of them and they lost their effectiveness. As usually happens in a Seth Rogen movie, while some jokes are hilarious, too many of them miss the mark.

The voice cast is very impressive, but I have to admit that many of them disappeared too much into the characters. You don't want someone's voice to overshadow the character, but you don't want it to feel nonexistent, either. Too often in this film, the voices came across as unmemorable. Seth Rogen is the exception here, since his voice is so unique. It wasn't overpowering, but I never forgot for a second I was listening to Rogen. That's okay, though, because his voice is pretty fun to hear. Kristen Wiig was okay, but her character was a bit boring. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera made very little impact. Same can be said for James Franco and Edward Norton. Salma Hayek managed to be memorable, especially since her character was built around her personality. Paul Rudd did a really good job- I never would have guessed it was him. There's a ton of other voice talent, but honestly, their impact on the final film was minimal. Still, I applaud this film for getting so many funny people to voice the various food.

Sausage Party is a decent animated comedy. I was mildly entertained from start to finish. While the jokes eventually become too one-note, it's still fun seeing animated food utter such vulgar, nasty things. It's juvenile, but that doesn't make it not funny. This is a film that I'm glad I watched, but I really have no need to sit down and watch it ever again.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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