Sausage Party (2016)

…………………………………………………………….

Sausage Party Movie Review

Sausage Party is a 2016 animated comedy film directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan and starring Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig and Michael Cera among others. It is one of the best films of the year.

It follows food items who learn the horrifying truth of becoming a meal. This is such an admirable film because when you see its premise, you aren’t that intrigued by it as there’s been a lot of animated films about inanimate objects being real up to this point. But this film gives us something entirely different and spins a refreshing take on this tired formula.

…………………………………………………………….

“Ignore that prick, Barry.

He’s full of shit and don’t forget: You’ve got girth, That’s way important to length.

You’re a fucking champ, yo“

…………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………….

Let’s first talk about the characters. Sausage Party is filled with stereotypes of all different types of people. I really don’t understand why anyone would object to it, I personally never do in a comedy as it is supposed to make you laugh. And it did make me laugh a lot. Frank is awesome and a really good, likable lead. Brenda is definitely very sexualized, but it is great that the filmmakers have also given her a well defined personality and a great conflict.

Barry is so likable and funny and of course Kareem and Sammy are terrific as Jewish/Middle Eastern rivals. Teresa del Taco as a lesbian taco is very funny and watching her lust over Brenda was hilarious. Firewater, Mr. Grits and Twink are a stereotypical and very funny take on Native American, African American and gay people. Very funny, all three of them. Gum is a hilarious Stephen Hawking figure and some of his laughs were the best. Douche was excellent as this very menacing villain. Some of the things he did here were appalling and he truly is such a strong, badass villain. As for Druggie, I found his character excellent as it showcased the brilliance of the script. People can see food walk and talk only when they’re on drugs and it is such a clever concept.

…………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………….

Many claim that this film is sexist, homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic. But I would argue quite the opposite. Yes, it presents all of these groups as basic stereotypes, but that is just done for the sake of comedy. But in its orgy happy ending, we are presented with a great message of tolerance and how everyone should be themselves and how all different groups of people should cooperate and get along. The film is very progressive.

Gays being portrayed as fruits was clever and incredibly funny along with the Twink character. Douche’s rape scenes were creepy and disturbing, but that was the point as he is a true villain and he should be creepy. But other gay sex scenes were very funny while also being crazy and unexpected. The lesbian part was to me very funny and I just loved the interactions between the two women. Women weren’t that badly portrayed as some would claim, they were just overly sexualized, but again in a funny way. That black guy talking about crackers was very funny, the Indian is also really funny and both are typical, yet very likable and amusing. Mexicans are hilarious and the Jews and Muslims are some of the highlights.

…………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………….

The voice acting is stellar. Everyone here did such a terrific job and although Seth Rogen’s voice is very recognizable, he still gave a very strong performance. The same goes for Michael Cera who is quite funny and Kristen Wiig who emotes quite well. Edward Norton imitated Woody Allen’s accent immaculately to the point of me thinking it was him. Wow, he was so great. David Krumholtz was excellent as Kareem and Salma Hayek was better than she usually is. And of course Nick Kroll did such a good job as this very capable and satisfying villain.

Sausage Party doesn’t have the greatest animation, but it’s still pretty solid. Yes, the character designs are dated, of the humans mostly as the food designs were mostly great and some even quite authentic and interesting. Everything looks solid and the animation is passable, but far from great as it isn’t particularly polished and definitely not up to today’s animation standards. But having in mind that this is an animated comedy, that could be forgiven.

This is a thematically rich film, incredibly rich. I was blown away by how clever and sophisticated the writing is. Let’s touch upon some of the more important themes and issues explored here. The big one is religion. Now I totally get how some would object to this movie being anti-religious as it really presents the bad sides to religion and ignoring those positive ones, but I liked what it had to say about the relationship between religion and morality as well as between religion and sexuality. Religion definitely restricted sexuality (especially to women and gays) throughout centuries which is just a fact and the film made clear that that is a very negative aspect to it. The entire conflict of Brenda and Teresa fearing the gods for thinking about “dirty” thoughts was just incredibly well explored and fascinating.

…………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………….

The film is, as I said, very progressive. And it is a great plea for tolerance between different races and sexualities. There is a strong pro-gay element to it, most evident in that final orgy scene, but the ethnic relationships are exceptional here. The relationship between a Jewish and Middle Eastern man is so strong here and it is just such a strong case for cooperation between different nations, races and religions too. Of course you have that religious element of believing in something that you can’t even see or prove and that was also very well explored and to me it felt two-sided and thankfully not one-sided as it gave some compelling arguments in both cases.

Sausage Party isn’t a perfect movie as it has its obvious problems. The editing is strong, but the pacing can be a bit too frenetic at times. But because it was so entertaining, that wasn’t a huge problem. Sometimes its take on religion was a bit one-sided and the film is definitely polarizing. I also found its humor much weaker in the first half as the second half is filled with joke after joke. But the humor is mostly incredibly strong and I laughed out loud countless times as the film is just hilarious. It is such a crazy film where you watch it both in laughter and in jaw-dropping surprise as it truly pushes the limits of what is acceptable and what animation can do. The orgy scene at the end was just an incredible sight, crazy but ultimately funny and the most satisfying ending to a great film.

…………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………….

But this is still a glorious R-rated animated comedy and truly one of the best of its kind. I hope it will usher into a new era with more adult-oriented American animation as there is always a lack of those. I found the action to be well executed, the score is fitting to the imagery, the direction was strong and the film is very imaginative and sometimes wildly crazy and admirable in its tone and imagery. It is also very sophisticated in its storyline not only in themes, but also how well crafted it is and how well connected and incorporated each and every aspect is. There truly wasn’t a disappointing plot point here as the whole movie was immensely satisfying to me. The world building is excellent and the dialogue is great. The mix of raunchy and clever is stupendously well achieved and it is such an underappreciated film that is going to be a cult classic in years to come. But for now, it is the best film I’ve seen so far this year.

Managing to be both raunchy and clever, Sausage Party is a marvel to behold. The plot is so well crafted and it is so thematically rich with the relationship between religion and sexuality as well as the relationship between people from different groups being so well explored. It is an immensely sophisticated and admirably progressive film that never forgets to be funny and it truly is hilarious with laugh out loud joke after joke. The voice acting is top-notch, everything is so well connected and thought out and the film is so entertaining, crazy and pushing the limits of what animation can do and I hope it will lead to more adult-oriented American animation as that’s been lacking in recent years. It is easily the best film I’ve seen so far this year.

My Rating – 4.5

…………………………………………………………….