Jesus Christ, Sausage Party is an intense movie.
A parody of Pixar flicks based around anthropomorphic items singing songs and going on larger than life adventures, Sausage Party trades the child-like wonderment of Finding Nemo or Toy Story for profanity, sex, drugs, and violence.
I cannot overstate this fact. Other movies may push the envelope in terms of taste; Sausage Party burns down the post office, using one hand to masturbate furiously and the other to flip off everyone standing around with their mouth open at the sight of it. It is wall-to-wall dick and butt jokes, racial stereotypes (passive aggressive Jewish bagel fighting with a straight-up aggressive Middle Eastern lavash about aisle space occupation, for starters), horrible food puns, and over the top violence.
If you are offended by Sausage Party, it is not because you are too sensitive. It is because that’s pretty much the point of Sausage Party.
Breaking down the film in terms of actual movie, Sausage Party is more than just semen jokes (don’t get me wrong, there is more than a couple semen jokes). The character arcs are interesting and layered in a clever way, with no storyline feeling under or over told. The plot took some legitimately surprising turns, and the voice acting was pretty great. The animation is also much more than serviceable, even if it is undeniably disturbingly detailed at times.
It is also a smart movie underneath its layer of filth. It has a none too subtle message about organized religion and bigotry. Sausage Party also simultaneously unpacks the ridiculousness of popular children’s movies while being knowingly self-deprecating – there’s plenty to think and talk about after watching Frank the Sausage and his band of merry food stuffs.
However, I don’t know if I can actually say that Sausage Party is actually a good movie. I like my comedy, raunchy or not, to come with a heart, and normally Seth Rogen and Kristen Wiig deliver that in spades. Sausage Party comes with many things, but heart is not one of them. It’s a complete and utter assault on the senses; it makes for an interesting experience, but not necessarily a pleasant one.
Plus, there are some really, just straight up gross scenes. At one point, I was just holding my hands in front of the screen, screeching at the Eraserhead body-horror level weirdness unfolding in front of my eyes.
Sausage Party is not for everyone. Although clever and funny, it does push things to an uncomfortable point, and allows its crude humor and boundary pushing to overshadow its potential to be something more lasting. If you’re looking for something to shock the senses, I recommend it – otherwise, you have been warned.