The vulgarity of “Sausage Party” does not end with the title, but what do you expect from the minds of Seth Rogen and his producing partner Evan Goldberg, who gave us “Superbad,” “This Is the End,” and the “Neighbors” movies?
The two have a talent for offering more than laughs, however. Would you believe it if I told you religion, including the issues between Israel and Palestine, is a major theme in “Sausage Party?”
Ten years in the making, this animated comedy is filled with incredible talent and an enormous amounts of laughs, but the cleverness of the story stands out most.
We are in a world where food products are living things and inside a grocery story, the stock wakes every day hoping to be plucked by the “Gods” (humans) and taken outside to the great beyond where everything is magical. Or so they think.
Rogen voices Frank, a sausage whose only goal in life, outside of leaving the grocery store, is to get inside Brenda (Kristen Wiig), a bun. But life gets interesting when Frank, and his other sausage friends Barry (Michael Cera) and Carl (Jonah Hill), start to question their beliefs when a honey mustard jar (Danny McBride) miraculously returns from the great beyond and reports the horrific truth: the Gods eat them.
This begins a journey through the aisles by Frank, Brenda, Lavash (David Krumholtz), and Sammy Bagel Jr. (Edward Norton) to find some answers.
The laughs keep up with absurd moments, including a sequence in which food being dropped from a shopping cart is made to look almost shot-for-shot like a scene from “Saving Private Ryan.” Or the clever feud between Lavash flatbread and Sammy Bagel because the Middle Eastern food aisle is next to the kosher section.
Then there’s the villain of the movie (Nick Kroll in his best Jersey Shore accent) who wants to pummel Frank for ruining his dream of getting outside.
Meanwhile, Barry makes it outside, where he sees firsthand his friends getting slaughtered when a woman cooks a stew.
But nothing will prepare you for the ending of this movie. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it, but what I will say is if you are a Rogen/Goldberg fan, you’re going to love it. (And figuring out which stars are voicing which characters is also part of the fun.)
“Sausage Party” will lure people in with the raunchy humor of the Judd Apatow clan, but they'll discover a respectful commentary on theology. And by that I mean directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon make sure to pick on almost every religion and ethnicity known to mankind.
And that’s a good thing.
“Sausage Party” opens in theaters on Friday.
