I have noticed a trend in my reviews of late and it has perturbed me. I have always been an extremely positive person, especially when it comes to movies, and my fellow reviewer and podcast partner Daryl will attest to the fact that every film I saw I would see the good in. Now back to my recent trend, I am seeing reviews for films either getting 4/5 stars or 1/2 stars across the board and I end up right slap bang in the middle with a 3 star review (The Shallows, Suicide Squad, Ghostbusters, Secret Life of Pets, X-Men Apocalypse, to name just a few). I can now add Sausage Party to that list and I’m not overjoyed about it.
Please let me explain. I’m a big fan of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, have been ever since Superbad and I have enjoyed pretty much all their output consistently. The trailers for this movie were spot on! Hilarious, inspired and crude as one could hope from these gentlemen! I tried so hard not to get my hopes up but inevitably failed and I was excited to see it today.
You don’t need to hear about the story as if you’re reading this I’m sure you already know it. What I will say is that this film has some very funny lines, some set pieces that you won’t forget in a hurry and a final act that is so depraved yet seemed like the only logical way to end the arc we have been complicit in for the previous hour. Having said all that I still found the film to be distinctly middling. I come from a background of loving adult animation, from the big hitters like South Park and Family Guy to the more underground and cult hits like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Space Ghost and Sealab 2021 and they all have been doing this stuff for years. It’s great to have it on the big screen and all but as far as animated comedy goes this certainly doesn’t break the mould.
The voice acting is great and I really loved Michael Cera, Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton, Nick Kroll et al. The characters, although almost entirely simply racial stereotypes, all had their jokes that landed and that is important in a film like this. The story hints at its underlying ideas about religion and diversity but I doubt the cinema-going audience at large are going to care about that when they just want to see a burrito cornhole a donut at the end of the day.
To wrap this up, I laughed quite a bit, winced a few times, enjoyed the filmic references, and I’m glad this film got made. If you’re a fan of Rogen/Goldberg productions then I’m sure you’ll find lots to enjoy. It’s not a classic and it’s not terrible, it just is! I don’t know what is happening to my sensibilities of late but the films I absolutely adore (The Nice Guys, Green Room, The Neon Demon) and despise (Batman Vs Superman, Special Correspondents, The Do-Over) throughout the year are getting fewer and farther between and more often than not the films just leave me neutral.
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