'Sausage Party' Review

I walked out of Sausage Party wondering what in the world I had just watched, and that's coming from someone who had a general idea what he was in for. Essentially it's about marketplace food discovering what actually happens to food when it's purchased and the insane shenanigans that follow.

At it's core, Sausage Party clearly mocks many tropes of Disney/Pixar style animation opening with an outrageously humorous song composed by Alan Menken, known for scoring Disney films such as Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin, and Hercules, and borrowing the central idea of living inanimate objects and their lives from Toy Story but trust me, they are distinctly different in terms of appropriateness and quality.

Sausage Party is a raunchy animated comedy, and I feel that's something that's important and should be expressed if you plan on watching it, because this film doesn't hold back on it's jokes and crosses the line fairly quickly with no plans to tread backwards. If you are easily offended by racial stereotypes or inappropriate humor, this is not the comedy for you. Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon's direction lends itself perfectly to the filthy comedy as every creative choice is certainly a bold one.

The animation is sub-par and never near the heights of Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, or even Illumination Entertainment but that's no surprise considering Sausage Party had a budget of $19 M and the Sausage Party's aesthetic isn't the film's primary focus. It's purpose is to make you laugh and Sausage Party's biggest hurdle for me was that it's rarely as it funny as makes itself out to be.

The screenplay from writers Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Seth Rogan, and Evan Goldberg offers up some gags that had me laughing hysterically but not every joke landed. There are some sequences that offer up plenty of shock and awe as things unfold that are absolutely bananas, so I can give them props for daring to go that far, but at the same time I was very weirded out by it all. Surprisingly the screenplay does offer up some fairly smart social, political, and religious commentary, but once again not as high brow as it'd like to be since it juxtaposes these messages with some grungy jokes and racial stereotypes for cheap laughs.

However with that all being said, Sausage Party boasts a massive ensemble of comedic talent including Seth Rogan, Kirsten Wiig, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Edward Norton, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader, and Nick Kroll along with many, many more brilliant comedians. Some voices are instantly recognizable while others had me on the ropes and part of the fun of seeing the film is trying to figure out which celebrity talent is associated with which character so I won't discuss their performances individually.

Overall, Sausage Party is definitely not for everyone, but if you love raunchy comedy this will scratch your itch. Oh and please DON'T bring your children to see Sausage Party as it may appear to be a cute animation, it's nothing of the sort. I also didn't find the experience to be heightened by seeing it in a theater so if you're iffy on Sausage Party, wait for the home media release and check it out then. In conclusion, Sausage Party is a brilliant parody, but only a passable comedy. It offers up enough unique humor for at least one viewing, but honestly I don't feel as though I would ever watch Sausage Party again.

Film Assessment: C-