The previews looked exhilarating. Talking food, sexual innuendos, and Seth Rogan—what more could a viewer want? After watching "Zootopia" and loving it, hearing great reviews about "The Secret Life of Pets," and enjoying "Finding Dory" to its fullest extent, I was hyped about more animation.
The theater was completely full on a Tuesday night. A surefire sign the hype had gotten to everyone. With an opening montage of singing by all of the food and overtones of religion, historical references, and punz for dayz, it was off to a hilarious start.
The basic premise is that all the groceries think leaving the store goes to the 'Promised Land.' The Gods (humans) will care for them and then they will all be able to get laid.
Cue in the grumpy mustard. A returned condiment, he tries to warn everyone of the impending doom (that the food gets taken apart then eaten), but nobody listens. Soon enough Frank (Seth Rogan), our fearless hot dog hero, and Brenda (Kristen Wiig), the romantic hot dog bun, embark on a journey throughout the market. They run into a Jewish bagel and a Middle Eastern Lavash to add some entertaining political satire.
The conversations between bagel and lavash add in a political element to the otherwise religiously centered satire. With key lines and funny anecdotes surrounding their conversations, this relationship was a fascinating take on conflict in the Middle East while maintaining a witty banter.
More critical satire comes through with references to rape culture, homosexuality within a religious paradigm, and living according to religious beliefs. These themes are perfectly placed throughout the film to keep viewers who don’t like constant dick jokes content.
The entire movie was cute, sexualized, and thought provoking.
Until the last 15 minutes.
After murdering the Gods in the supermarket…All the characters enter into an orgy each other. With overt bondage, squealing, and the weirdest food sex you can imagine, sh*t got weird. I cringed as the sex scene continued. It was out of place in an otherwise thought producing movie and was overall indecent.
After the orgy, the movie attempts to get even more Meta by breaking the fourth wall and introducing the floating head of Seth Rogan. As the characters depart into a portal, the audience is left looking around at each other wondering what happened.
How did a movie with so many important themes and connotations, downgrade into a food-filled massacre turned orgy so fast?
Alas, "Sausage Party" led me to think: What the f*ck did I just watch? It is critical to have satires in order to get audiences thinking. This is the End (also created by Seth Rogan) did this to perfection while using the most famous of celebrities. "Zootopia" brought themes of traditional role bending, discrimination, and stereotyping. Even Ted emphasized friendship following controversy.
But Sausage Party took a cheap way out. Instead of finishing its critique of society with justice or even a degree of moderation, it used an orgy. The orgy left a bitter feeling about the movie for me. It was more than an hour of comedic genius and fantastic animation but ended so cheaply. Anyone can make an orgy joke, but it takes an amazing comedy to highlight on social and global issues while keeping the audience entertained. Sadly, Sausage Party did the latter but was overcast by the former.
A hilarious movie, but receives a “meh” review from this wannabe critic as I shook my head after the movie going: Did I just watch a food orgy…and is it wrong that I’m hungry now?
