When a film titled ‘Sausage Party’ was announced last year, many a good folk on the internet thought it was a joke. Not only just the name, but the simple premise of an animated film that was NOT for children at all, was something that hadn’t particularly been conceived of before. As the green-band, and red-band trailers began to surface, the hype grew in circles of youth who enjoyed films like ‘Superbad’ and ‘Neighbors’, and upon it’s release it will definitely satisfy those audiences. Once again, this is not a film for children… or grandparents.
That being said, the niche of crass, inappropriate joke loving, 20-to-30-something’s that are excited for this film will not be disappointed. The film is far, far, far more intense than even the red-band trailers would suggest. This movie, as a comedy is unique because the characters themselves are in most cases “the joke”. You can’t know or show anything about the primary antagonist in the film, because it would take away from some of the best jokes in the movie. So the trailers leave out quite a bit, which is a relief.
The things that can be said however, may seem negative, but the audience this movie is directed at, will not mind at all. ‘Sausage Party’ is wonderfully, beautifully, hilariously, and horribly racist, sexist, and any other “ist” you can shake a sausage at. Arabic, Jewish, Black, White, LGBT, Nazi, drug addict, and Native American jokes are only the tip of the iceberg. I sat down with a fellow press writer, and we discovered that the ONLY people who were left out of the food fight of controversial jokes, were Russians and Buddhists, this film should have been NC-17, not R rated. Aside from that, there isn’t a classification of individuals who doesn’t get a stereotypical joke thrown at them… even the people from the great state of New Jersey get their dose of put downs.
However, the brunt of the film focuses on religion in a way that’s eloquently woven into the plot. The film’s protagonists start off viewing humans as gods (and even open the film with quite the interesting song about it). And throughout the movie, the message of “Don’t worship everything you hear about” is reoccurs often. The one thing that is also impressively touched upon, is “If peoples views don’t align with yours, you should respect that, and not harbor hatred towards them”, which I personally feel is quite the positive message.
In terms of negative points, the film struggles with being dated easily, from the music, to the popular cultural references, to some of the language. In 5 years it will be easy to see how much this movie has aged. Many of the best jokes are for shock factor, meaning after you see it once, there may be little see as humorous on a second watch. There is also one particular scene towards the end of the film, where it felt like Seth Rogan and the writers, just decided to throw everything at the wall at once to see how many people they could make uncomfortable. It literally had people asking “what the hell am I watching?”, which is not exactly the response you want from trying to push the envelope. (Believe me, you will know that scene when you see it)
‘Sausage Party’ on the whole is quite the unique and original movie, which is extremely refreshing. With nods to films like ‘Saving Private Ryan’, ‘Terminator 2’, ‘The Matrix’, and ‘Stargate’, there are no ends to jokes that (the age range this movie is aimed at) will appreciate. From the surprises, to the genuinely broad sense of humor, this movie is worth checking out if you have a strong stomach, and have enjoyed the trailers.
