Sausage Party (2016) – Review

★★★★ – “Truly shocking in the best of ways.”

Sausage Party is directed by Greg Tiernan & Conrad Vernon and stars Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd & Edward Norton.

A sausage strives to discover the truth about his existence.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are one of the best duos in comedy filmmaking. Their humour is focused heavily on gross-out situations, over-the-top performances and somewhat relatable characters. Having watched their movies – Superbad, Pineapple Express & This Is The End, for example – many times, I knew I had to see this. I was not disappointed.

Sausage Party features all of the crazy stuff you’d come to expect from the duo, yet packing in moments that will genuinely surprise you.

The writing is ridiculously fun, fast-paced and outrageous. I think partly what makes it so much more enjoyable is the animation. It’s supposed to look and feel like a children’s movie, but you couldn’t be more wrong. With the ecstatic performances from all the cast throughout, it delivers for the most part.

Though a majority of the jokes are brilliant, there were moments were it seemed unimaginative, almost bland in taste. That said, seconds later another character will jump in to save the scene. So although it’s not completely fluent in translation, it’s a fairly decent comedy flick.

Music by Christopher Lennertz & Alan Menken is pretty average, though you couldn’t ask for more with such a movie. The opening song/theme is tightly written and composed, introducing you to the world our characters live in very nicely. Overall, an unnoticeable addition to the feature, but by no means a bad one. Lennertz is actually one of the best composers in the comedy genre, so whoever was in control and made that decision did a good job.

Highlighting Seth, Kristen and Jonah for their seemingly ‘off-the-cuff’ portrayals, absolutely stealing the show and bringing the laughs. From the beginning to end, these characters truly shocking in the best of ways. I advise against watching the trailers, as a few of the better scenes are featured, however this won’t completely ruin the surprise. There’s still a lot of crazy, disgusting, vulgar writing by Seth, Evan and Jonah that must be experienced. I use those descriptive words in the ‘pre-eminent’ sense.

This movie definitely isn’t for everyone, but fans of Rogen & Goldberg will almost certainly approve.

Verdict; Sausage Party is an extremely unique take on the comedy genre and while sometimes the humour may lack, the story, somewhat ostentatious animation and shocking pay-off will leave you with some confusing afterthoughts whilst grinning.

Sausage Party – ★★★★ (7/10)