“Sausage Party” will entertain you if you can leave political correctness at the door.
With its basis surrounding an existential journey for existence, “Sausage Party” personifies our grocery list in a crude way. Seth Rogen and Kristen Wiig star in this animated adventure in the roles of a hot dog/sausage named Frank and a bun named Brenda. While dealing with their own relationship struggles, Frank is given the truth about their purpose which puts him at odds with Brenda and other grocery products.
Cinematics (Cinematography, Acting, Plot, etc.) – 3
“Sausage Party” is an oddity to say the least. It’s premise and execution were clever and creative but some of the crude and vulgar moments are forcefully distracting thereby hurting the film’s creative nature. In this instance, I’m not referring to the moments of social injustice (don’t worry I’ll get there), but instead the typical crude humor you would expect from a Seth Rogen project. For example, the opening dialogue consists of an unnecessary saturation of F-bombs that attempt to set the tone but instead fail to maintain fluidity. There are more cases like this throughout the film leading to a balancing act between character development and cheap laughs, but fortunately the consistency of the humor outweighs the cheap laughs.
The laughs are supplemented by a high profile cast that you may or may not recognize from their voice. Seth Rogen’s voice is easily identified which may be a blessing or curse depending on how you feel. I think they intentionally used the signature Rogen laugh sparingly to make his voice more palatable for those opposed. Kristen Wiig surprisingly developed some nice vocal chemistry with Rogen acting as her love interest. Her soft spoken voice juxtaposed against his deep rough voice somehow fit. The rest of the cast lent their voice in a successful way as well with no one identified as truly bad. Michael Cera plays his usual frail self, James Franco plays a stoner, and Bill Hader and Edward Norton create a voice all their own and I’ll let you guess those for yourself.
Despite being VERY politically incorrect, “Sausage Party’s” taboo humor is socially satirical from a certain perspective. Racial, cultural, and religious stereotypes are used frequently throughout but sometimes the mockery has an intended message. This film is definitely offensive but through its offensive nature it produces some clever ways of identifying things like the corruption of religion or unnecessary war. These are definitely underlying messages, but the way they are presented was smarter than I expected.
Overall the film struggled between maintaining consistency in its plot and random humor, but the plot maintained its fluidity with a few laughs to be had. The animation was vibrant and smooth, but still didn’t hold its own against some of the top dogs out there. There are definitely some flaws in the realm of cinematics but in the end I think “Sausage Party” prevailed.
Entertainment Value – 4
Through outlandish concepts, obscenities, vulgarities, and sensitive subject matter, it’s difficult not to be entertained by “Sausage Party.” You may feel horrible about yourself for engaging in some of the moments, but it’s hard to look away when you’re wondering which line they will cross next. As stated previously, some of the dialogue and scenes are very crass, but from a purely objective stance, these elements continually catch you off guard.
Outside of the shock value of”Sausage Party,” there’s actually a very creative story. Personification of inanimate objects has been a proven success in adolescent tales, but this film corrupts that adolescence spawning a new breed of animation. There’s a bit of a sensory overload, as “Sausage Party” merges childhood appeal with adult themes and somehow forms an abomination of entertainment. Despite a few disjointed story elements, “Sausage Party” is highly entertaining.
Re-Watchability – 3
I think I could give “Sausage Party” a few repeat viewings but it’s not going to be at the top of my list. It’s the type of comedy that has its best laughs stemming from shock value and the surprise is unfortunately a one-shot deal.
The highlights for watching this film again would be its niche value being one of the few “R” rated, animated films. It’s also an animated film with both substance and humor, so there are a lot of unique attributes making this worthy of at least another viewing. But when it comes to those repeat viewings, I don’t think it’s worthy of making another trip to the theater. This is more of a second screening in the comfort of your own home.