Review: ‘Sausage Party’ may be animated, but it is definitely not for children

Posted on August 19, 2016

I said it in my weekend preview. I said it in the headline for this review. But I still feel like I should say it again. “Sausage Party” may be animated but it is by no means for kids. It is rated R for a reason. Actually, plenty of reasons. And this isn’t a soft R where they drop a few dirty words and call it a day. No, “Sausage Party” is a very hard R, bordering on the realm of NC-17, and boasting scenes I simply can’t unsee. So yeah, leave the kids at home.

I knew “Sausage Party” was from the minds of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who gave us “This Is The End” and “The Interview,” both highly crude and offensive movies. So I did know this movie was going to be vulgar and disgusting and offensive. I knew all of that. I really did. But knowing it still didn’t prepare me for this movie. Or for how funny it would be.

The story follows a group of foodstuffs living in a grocery store and in a very “Toy Story”-esque fashion. Unbeknownst to all of us, the food is actually alive and they see humans as gods who choose food to move on to the great beyond, which is essentially heaven. Unfortunately for the food, as we all know, food that leaves a grocery story is not destined for heaven.

A hotdog named Frank (voiced by Rogen) wants nothing more than to finally be with his girlfriend Brenda (Kristin Wiig, “Ghostbusters”) when they’re chosen and destined for the great beyond. Unfortunately for him, however, he begins to learn the truth and sets out to reveal this secret to the rest of the food in the grocery store.

While the trailers led me to believe that much of the action would take place after the food left the store, the story is mostly set in the grocery store itself, which allows the film to set up this world, which in many ways is a microcosm of our own. They do this by utilizing a plethora of cultural stereotypes imposed on those cultures’ foods. And if that sounds offensive, it is. But Rogen and Goldberg manage to offend everyone equally, so no one group should feel singled out.

One of the best things about “This Is The End” and “The Interview” is that behind the non-stop toilet humor, there is a surprising intelligence at work, and in “Sausage Party” they manage to make some interesting observations on the world at large.

It does feel at times that the they’re flinging everything they can at the wall to see what sticks, but a surprisingly large amount of it does. I found myself laughing quite a bit during this movie, if even I felt bad about it later.

And I just have to add one last warning. If you make it through the first two acts and are wondering just how bad this movie really is, just wait. The final act turns the depravity up to 11. “Sausage Party” may be one of the most vulgar and offensive movies I’ve seen. And for me, that’s saying quite a bit. But that doesn’t mean it’s not funny. Because it is.

The movie is rated R for strong crude sexual content, pervasive language and drug use.

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