Sausage Party - Movie Review: We are Horrible Gods

It won’t make you change your eating habits, but may make you think about using poor toilet paper.

Sausage Party starring the voices of Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, a host of other actors, and directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon. The film tells the story of the secret life of food. They wait patiently and excitedly at the grocery story to be chosen by “The Gods” and taken to the great beyond. They don’t know the horror that awaits them once they leave the story and are eaten by the humans they worship.

I heard Seth Rogen talking about the film and he wanted to do an adult Pixar movie. They thought about how Pixar tells the secret life of Toys, Fish and Cars, and they thought about the secret life of food. This life is horrifying at every turn, but made for one hilarious comedy. I wouldn’t call the film a parody of Pixar movies, but it does hit many of the same beats of their major movies. Our heroes have to go on an adventure and on the way they learn important life lessons. I was expecting the funny outlandish comedy from the film, but I wasn’t expecting the movie to have an actual message.

The message the movie gets across may be a bit on the nose, but I enjoyed it. Like any good theme hidden in a silly concept it mirrored some real world issues and problems. Sausage Party won’t win any Oscar’s for its deep story, but it was another aspect to keep the audience engaged between the lewd jokes. The movie does a great job of walking a delicate line with what it is trying to say. It tries and succeed I think in showing two different sides of thought. I’m being vague, but I don’t want to give away spoilers. Yeah that sounds silly thinking about it, but I don’t want to give anything away.

The trailers did give away some of the funny jokes, but I don’t know how else they could have sold the movie. The trailers got me in the door to go see the film, and there are still plenty of other funny moments to keep you laughing besides what was in the trailer. The ending climax is something that can only be seen, and then some may wish they could un-see it.  I laughed out loud through the entire last part of the film and the movie was worth seeing for the last part alone. I’m a fan of crude humor, so many peoples mileage may vary. I also found the strong language throughout the film perfect for the context of the movie, but I could see how it could be tiresome for some.

There wasn’t much negatively to say about the film. The only two issues I had is the movie seemed to drag in the middle, and the scene choice at the very end. I thought the film should have rolled credits at one point, and they tacked on one extra scene at the end which wasn’t needed. It does setup an eventual sequel if they want, but they could have done this without tacking on the ending. As far as the pacing the middle portion seemed to stall with its story, and took just a bit too long to get going towards a resolution. I might have cut a few of the scenes down dealing with the God explanation, but they did serve a purpose to the story.

Sausage Party is an overall well-made film. All of the voice acting is great. I didn’t even realize Edward Norton was voicing a character until the end because he did such a good job of throwing his voice. Rogen and Wiig are fantastic as the title characters, and I loved Salma Hayek as the voice of the Taco. Michael Cera was great as the deformed Sausage. Can Michael Cera get some more work Hollywood? I miss seeing him in stuff. One of the main villains of the film is voiced by Nick Kroll and is a literal Douche and is absolutely perfect. I can see people having an issue with this story thread, because it may not have been needed, but I liked how he cut through the entire movie.

I am still not entirely certain how Seth Rogen got Sony to green light this absurd comedy, but I’m glad they did. Maybe they felt bad after The Interview fiasco, and let him do whatever he wanted. Whatever the case this turned out extremely well, and if you enjoy an crude humor, with a decent if not on the nose underlying message then Sausage Party is well Worth Seeing. I’m not sure it is one I will own to watch over and over again, but it is something I would stop to watch whenever I found it on a paid movie channel.

What did you think of Sausage Party if you have made it out to see it? What is your favorite R rated animated film? Mine is still South Park. Comment and let me know.