Every once in a while it’s nice to see a comedy geared completely toward adults.
Even if a film is gimmicky, it’s a breath of fresh air to see filmmakers take a risk and do something outside the box.
That’s what creative team Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have done with Sausage Party, a Pixar satire centred around self-aware supermarket foods.
Right from the opening minutes this animated film rubs on the foul-mouthed shock factor extra thick as we meet Frank (Seth Rogen) a hotdog who just wants to get it on with Brenda (Kristen Wiig) the hotdog bun who’s conveniently located on the shelf next door.
They’re in love and waiting for the Fourth of July when they believe after being picked up by a customer God will release them from the supermarket and take them to heaven.
Of course, things don’t go according to plan as a jar of honey mustard (Danny McBride) is mistaken for Dijon and returned to the store where he reveals the gods only want death to fuel their hunger and that life is essentially a lie.
As the film carries on, Rogen and his ragtag company including Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, and Edward Norton as a groaning bagel dig deeper into what it means to lose faith and life’s purpose.
However, Sausage Party isn’t a film, which has any serious message to discuss, rather those heavy existential concepts are lost to the wacky mix of humour and shocking vulgarity.
Throughout the 89-minute film, you never know if you should be laughing or vomiting at what is being projected on screen. But, the shock value is what makes it enjoyable (if you’re into that sort of thing).
There’s a gory sequence involving food-on-human violence, a massive food orgy sex scene, which goes on longer than is comfortable, and a ridiculously odd scene that is a clear play-off on Saving Private Ryan.
Hollywood hasn’t made a comedy like this since 2004’s Team America: World Police (it’s the first CGI-animated film to be rated R in the United States and 18A in Canada), and you wonder what executive approved the financing for a film where superstore food constantly curses and has sexual urges.
Still it’s refreshing to see something made by a major studio (Columbia Pictures) come right out of left field.
The film doesn’t always work, it has as many low points as it does highs but if you give it a chance it’ll have you rolling in the aisles.
For local screenings, visit www.cochranemoviehouse.com.
