This movie is surprisingly well-reviewed for something based on a pun gone wrong, and is poised to usurp Suicide Squad’s tenuous hold on the box office’s top spot. But it’s probably the summer’s biggest disappointment for me.
It comes as a surprise to absolutely no one that Sausage Party is peppered with f-bombs and exploding with offensive material. The surprise is that I didn’t buy into it. I’m generally a cusser extraordinaire and have a tongue so salty it makes sailors blush and mumble “aw shucks.” But swearing should be unselfconscious whereas Sausage Party just feels so darn deliberate. Like it’s a 19 million dollar excuse to pack in every bad word Seth Rogen knows, and a few he just made up.
The basic premise is: what if your food had feelings? Like, every night when the grocery store closes, the food comes alive in almost exactly the same way the toys do in Toy Story. But in Toy Story, the worst thing we do is neglect our old toys. Worst case play with them too roughly. But we flipping eat food! And before we eat it, we torture it: we cut it, mash it, boil it up, set it on fire. At first the food is blissfully unaware of its weird relationship with us, but when they eventually find out it’s supermarket anarchy.
There are mostly two types of jokes in this movie:
- Racial stereotypes. Kosher food, halal food, ethnic food. The Canadian beer that apologizes constantly. The bagel and the lavash are sworn enemies. A little homophobia on the side just to keep things fresh.
- Graphic sex. As graphic as a juice box can get, anyway. I mean, the whole plot revolves around a bun (Kristen Wiig) and a sausage (Seth Rogen) who can’t wait to couple. There’s a character who is literally a douche (Nick Kroll). Did you ever want to see a sausage penetrate 3 types of bread products at once? I mean, this is the kind of thing that only comes around once, maybe twice in your life. So get it while it’s hot.
The problem with rude comedy is that if it’s all rude all the time, then rude is the new normal and it all becomes dull pretty quick. I prefer my food orgies to be me at an all you can eat buffet in Vegas, with unlimited mimosas, is what I’m saying.
But even critics, who found Suicide Squad so joyless, are on board for this profanity-filled
sausage fest. And of course I cracked a few laughs. I absolutely did. But mostly I didn’t enjoy myself much. I feel too guilty to laugh at something so obvious and offensive as a bottle of “fire water” with a Native American accent (provided by white guy Bill Hader). And while that might be the most culturally inappropriate, it’s not the hardest to watch. Not with a used condom sloppily lamenting its fate, or toilet paper experiencing PTSD.
This should have been a movie right up my bum. Er, alley. Right up my alley. But I guess I’m just too much of an old prude to appreciate it. For me it’s a rare miss from Seth Rogen but I guess my tolerance for glutinous cunnilingus just isn’t what it used to be.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
There must be a lot of money out there to make something like this… it’s actually sad.
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This movie costs just a fraction of what a Pixar one does. And I’m glad they take chances on off the wall movies. They just don’t all work out.
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Wonderful review. I think I’ll pass on seeing it after reading your take on the film. Plus, I fear. I’ll never look at food in the same way again. Ha
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OH I know, you definitely don’t need to think of buns as vaginal, that’s for sure!
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Ha! No, for sure!
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Every review I read people aren’t totally feeling this one but still it has a pretty decent standing on Rotten Tomatoes. Unusual but nice read! Don’t think I’m sold on going to see this one just yet
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I’m usually down for juvenile Seth Rogen humour, but not this time. It was either too much…or too little, probably.
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Maybe you avoid the bad reviewers.
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Lettuce pray some better movies come out so this one disappears quickly.
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Ha.
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When I first saw the trailer , I thought it was a bad commercial for selling some kind of sausage. My hubby and I looked at each other and just shook our heads. I enjoy salty language but not when it is used so constantly that it impedes the plot or the story. When it becomes distracting, you know it is used too much(that Eddie Murphy comic video comes to mind). Do they deal with the fact that if they are not eaten, they will get mold and maggots will set in?? I shall ignore this movie
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My dad, who had the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old schoolboy with a potty mouth, can’t wait to see this movie. My mom and I are just shaking our heads at how bad it looks. The high school on Rotten Tomatoes baffles and frustrates me, but I guess Seth Rogen hasn’t been in something good since “Freaks and Geeks” as far as I can tell, his whole career is a joke, and not a very funny one. (great review, as always.)
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I was on the fence about this one. Climbing down, and waiting for something better to come along. Thanks 🙂 G-uno
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I remember doing a double take when I first saw the trailer for this film. Then I heard it involved Seth Rogan and all made sense, lol. He tends to not be in the deepest of movies… I think I’m correct in putting off seeing this one…
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Yes exactly, this whole movie is just an idea that appeared in a cloud of smoke.
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Hey, I’m sure it’s better than Food Fight.
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I wouldn’t know.
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That’s probably for the best.
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Oh god, really??? How bad can it get? Are we at the bottom yet do you think?
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I’m afraid to ask.
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Saw it today. I agree the crude talk and swearing could be dialed down a notch — or three. I guess I enjoyed it, but it’s nothing that will stay in my memory for long.
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I’m with you on this one. I would have preferred this as an animated short. I got antsy a lot considering how short it was! I wish they’d just made another movie like This is the End or something rather than this…
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The idea of this one disturbs me. I mean, really disturbs me. I won’t be going within miles of this one.
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I feel like I might actually enjoy this. I mostly find Rogen’s depraved band of humor…humorous, so I guess I’ll check it out.
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My interest was piqued at food sex. It looks goofy and dumb, but in a good way. I like the more disturbing comedies and this definitely looks like one.
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Sean and I recently rewatched this, and I have to say, with the right kind of drugs: we laughed A LOT. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered. So did I judge it too harshly then, or do you just really need to be high to appreciate it?
Two things:
1. We ordered sausage pizza and worried that this would be cannibalistic or some shit but we couldn’t help ourselves, despite the fact that we NEVER order sausage pizza.
2. Obviously they liked the title and went with it, but those aren’t sausages, they’re WIENERS.
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Oh and a third thing, apparently:
the d-day scene is actually kind of inspired
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