SAUSAGE PARTY (2016)

Genre: CG Animation
Director: Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan
Cast: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Salma Hayek, Edward Norton, David Krumholtz, Nick Kroll, Michael Cera, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Bill Hader, Anders Holm, Paul Rudd, Danny McBride
Runtime: 1 hr 29 mins
Rating: R21 (Crude Humour and Strong Coarse Language)
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International 
Official Website: http://www.sausagepartymovie.com/site/

Opening Day: 6 October 2016

Synopsis: "Sausage Party" is a raunchy animated movie about one sausage's quest to discover the truth about his existence. After falling out of a shopping cart, our hero sausage and his new friends embark on a perilous journey through the supermarket to get back to their aisles before the 4th of July sale.

Movie Review:

This movie directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon prides itself as the first computer animated film that is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. In the States, this means that viewers under 17 require accompanying parents or adult guardians as the movie contains some adult material. Parents are also urged to learn more about the film before taking their young children with them.

In Singapore, the movie is rated R21 for crude humour and strong coarse language. What we are getting here is also an edited version. Fret not, you won’t notice the cut – two utterances of religious profanities “Jesus F**k” and “Jesus F**cking Christ” were removed because our classification guidelines state that language which “denigrates religion or is religiously profane” is not allowed for all ratings.

There, with that out of the way, just how offensive is this vulgar comedy? Should frat boys flock to the cinemas to watch this before a beer party at the club? Should prudes stay away and prepare a petition for distributors never to bring this genre of movies into Singaporeever again?

This reviewer admits that for an 89 minute movie, this is one hell of an enjoyable ride. Yes, there are tons of crass jokes, but the scrooge in this writer decided to open up and he was amused with the inappropriateness of this animated film (would the Academy consider nominating it at next year’s Oscars?).

Everything is poked fun at – religion, afterlife, cultures, and yes, SEX – but you can imagine how these gags have come about. A group of fun loving guys must have sat around having beer and come up with a list of things which they thought were funny enough for other like minded folks to LAUGH OUT LOUD. And it is no wonder that there was weed involved when the idea of this movie was conceptualised. The passion project came about when a bunch of dudes (including writers Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill) wondered what if the protagonists were literally sausages – there was weed smoking involved in the process, of course.

The movie’s plot, which parodies the feel good productions of biggies like Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks Animation, follows a sausage who tries to discover the truth about his existence and goes on a journey with his friends to escape their fate.

We love the cast involved in this production – where else will you get Rogen and Hill voicing sausages named Frank and Carl, Kristen Wiig as a hot dog bun who can’t wait for a sausage to be inside her, Michael Cera as a sausage with dwarfism, Bill Hader as a bottle of liquor leading a group of non-perishables, James Franco as a junkie drug addict who sees the food items talking, Danny McBride as a bottle of honey mustard who is aware of the food items’ real fate outside the supermarket, Craig Robinson as a box of dried maize kernels who hates crackers, Paul Rudd as the supermarket manager who is known as the “Dark Lord”, Edward Norton as a bagel with homosexual tendencies, and slurp – Salma Hayek as a lesbian taco bell who wants nothing more than a lustful relationship with a hot dog bun?

Viewers familiar with Rogen and Hill’s sense of humour (Superbad, anyone?) will welcome this movie. In the mix, if you haven’t already been distracted by the laugh a minute jokes, you will also get philosophical messages about existence and the way of life. Just as you wonder how the movie is going to end, along comes an out of this world plot twist that…paves way for a sequel.  

Movie Rating:

(You will either be laughing at the vulgar humour, or cringing at how inappropriate the jokes are. Us? We loved this filthy mess of a comedy!)

Review by John Li