Food never looked so human

Sausage Party

***/****

By Jason Wiese

I will never forget the disappointment I felt when I walked out of 2014’s The Interview, writer-directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s comic “thriller” about an American talk show host (James Franco) and his producer (Rogen) who are recruited by the CIA to kill North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I found it to be lazy and not funny, as well as a missed opportunity to be a bold satire on the media’s coverage of international relations. Most people would respond to my criticism asking, “You expected that from a Seth Rogen movie?”

Believe it or not, I did, and movies like Sausage Party, co-written by Rogen, Goldberg, Ariel Shaffir and Kyle Hunter, prove to me that Rogen is certainly capable of making bold, clever and original material (just see it for yourself). It is an animated movie that answers a question that a sober mind could not have pondered: what is life like for grocery items?

Rogen plays a sausage aptly named Frank, who has been patiently waiting to be freed from his packaging by the “gods” (customers) to be taken to “The Great Beyond” (outside the grocery store) so he can consummate his relationship with his girlfriend, a bun named Brenda (Kristen Wiig). However, he learns, through a series of laugh-a-minute circumstances that involve a glorious smorgasbord of food puns, the horrifying truth about the “gods”: they are monsters who maliciously eat foods alive. Frank then sets out to warn his fellow grocery items about the truth.

Despite its borrowing of elements from Pixar films such as Toy Story or Cars, do not be fooled by Sausage Party’s bright and colorful appearance and expect to be able to take your children. It earns its R rating with an unapologetic strive to be the filthiest animated film of all time. It has competition with 1999’s Academy Award-nominated South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, but with its deranged and unflinching humor, it comes pretty close to taking the crown.

Yet, hidden under its childish demeanor is thought-provoking satire. In ways that I will not give away, Sausage Party is a clever social commentary with an inspiring message that makes food items appear more human than the people who eat them. As I said before, Rogen is very much capable of making fresh and smart material and this is no exception. Its star-studded cast (including Michael Cera, Bill Hader, Salma Hayek and Edward Norton to name a few) turn in some of the most outrageous and surprising performances of their careers. I imagine that just watching the recording sessions for this film would have been just as entertaining. In an exceptional year for animated films, Sausage Party is among the funniest and finest animated films of 2016 and I am not sugarcoating an ounce of that statement.

Published on Newstime and The Lincoln County Journal Friday, Aug. 12, 2016

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