Sausage Party Review

Director(s): Greg Tiernan & Conrad Vernon

Starring: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, Bill Hader, Salma Hayek, Jonah Hill, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, Paul Rudd.

Please note this review contains minor spoilers, but no more than is seen in the trailer.

The Overview

A sausage strives to discover the truth about his existence. (Source: IMDb)

The Good

Just read that overview bit again. A sausage…the truth about his existence. No, you’re not tripping, or maybe you are, I don’t know what you do in your spare time, but let’s just take a moment to consider that this is a real movie which exists. With that in mind, what was good about this movie?

Well, as it turns out, not a whole lot really, but we’ll get onto that! What this film does really well is the clever jokes, the ones which aren’t dancing naked in your face dropping F-bombs, but the background jokes you might not notice, and the well crafted one-liners. There is so much in the visual humour in this film, and that was something I really appreciated, when I was able to ignore the expletive laden script enough to spot them!

The thing I liked most about this film was the characterisation; it was simple, clever, and most importantly funny. Yes it played unashamedly to stereotypes, but so much of comedy is stereotypes, and the fact that this came from animated food was even funnier. From the really douchey Douche (Nick Kroll) to a mild-mannered (initially anyway) bagel (Edward Norton), the voice casting was absolutely spot on.

Frustratingly though, this film screamed potential but yet for me it just didn’t deliver…

The Bad

The entire premise of this film rests solely on the fact that you find a sausage saying the “F word” to be the funniest thing you’ve ever heard in your life. That’s not to say it isn’t funny a couple of times, but the over-reliance on swearing is really the downfall of this film. It just comes across as incredibly lazy script-writing, and is something which modern comedies seem to have an annoying habit of doing.

I get the fact that a sausage and a bun invites the opportunity for innuendo, and yes, this was funny a couple of times, but again it became a crutch which the film became too reliant on, and it caused the comedy to be really one-note. If that sort of thing is your thing, then absolutely you will find this film funny, but I was just expecting a whole lot more. When the visual gags and subtle lines were as funny as they were, it made the overbearing innuendos and excessive swearing even less funny.

The story is also incredibly lazy, whilst also weirdly trying far too hard to make some grand point about religion. I get the things it is trying to accomplish, but if you excuse the food pun, they all come across rather under-cooked.

There is one scene which you’ll probably hear about somewhere, and which I won’t spoil, but it is so completely outrageous that I’m amazed they got away with it. Sausage Party is a film which will probably find it’s audience based on this scene alone, but in my opinion, it doesn’t make the film worth watching.

The Verdict

I saw this movie so you don’t have to. I don’t deny this film has it’s moments, and maybe it is one of those films you need to see to believe, but it just didn’t follow through on all of the ideas it promised, which was a real shame. No amount of filthy jokes and F-bombs can save a film which has one of the laziest plots I’ve seen in a long time. It lacks the repeat watch-ability as well, as it’s pretty much the shock factor which makes you laugh the first time around. If Rogen’s comedy is right up your street, then this will be as well, but otherwise, I’d give it a miss!

Agree with everything I’ve said, or am I a terribly misguided idiot who has got it all wrong? Please let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to share as well.