What happens when Seth Rogen and his partner Evan Goldberg gather a cast of comedy improv mavens to voice a raunchy film about food? Something filthy but funny. You have to see this film with an open mind and you’ll still be shocked with what they got away with.
Rogen and Goldberg wrote the script with input from Jonah Hill. in the making for 8 years, it was rejected a lot, but finally Annapurna pictures took a bite and Sony followed. To get at least one person with animation experience, they got Greg Tiernan (Thomas and Friends) and Conrad Vernon (Madagascar, Shrek 2) to direct who say they let the actors create their characters as they went along. Tiernan says because of the cast, “comedy-wise we were way ahead before we even started animating.” The film cost $20 million, which is about one fifth what it normally costs to do an animated film. ‘
Rogen and Goldberg wanted to explore what could happen if food had feelings. But they took it to a gross level. The film starts in a glorious super market with a beautiful theme song where the foods are hoping to be picked so they can go to heaven. Yes, they believe in God and the hereafter, not realizing what it really means in terms of being humanly digested.
Rogen is the voice of Frank, the hot sausage who wants to get into Brenda’s bun, voiced by Kristen Wiig. Theirs is an innocent crush but, through discovery, they realize they are not on the path of glory or even just finally getting together, but fighting for their lives. Michael Cera plays Barry, another sausage in Frank’s package who gets passed over a lot because Barry is the runt of the litter, smaller than the rest.
Craig Robinson who is the voice of Grits and Salma Hayak say that Rogen encouraged them to improvise on the written script. She was shy at first because “It is the naughtiest, dirtiest script I’ve ever read in my life!” Hayek says the recording sessions were insane! Rudd, who plays the supermarket stock boy says of the film, “It’s so much MORE than I even imagined, and I imagined a lot.”
There are clever jokes with social and political implications of the relationships besides hot dogs to buns. Salma Hayak is a sexy, gorgeous taco, if there is such a thing, who takes more than a liking to Brenda. But the funniest cultural sparring comes from Ed Norton as Sammy the Bagel with David Krumholtz as Lavash, the middle Eastern bread. Norton’s voice and intonation is a spot-on Woody Allen impression. They are really very funny together.
With comedic actors allowed to go off on anything they wanted for their characters, you get incredible and incredibly raunchy creativity. Bill Hader shows off his multi talents as Firewater/ Tequila and El Guaco. One of the most disgusting characters is Nick Kroll as the Douche trying to find a lady to attach himself to. Kroll says he is definitely the bad guy in the movie. The censors must’ve rolled their eyes on that one.
But the Sausage Party, that is, the big orgy when all of the foods get into the act was what Rogen says he threw everything at, not knowing what the censors would kill. He says he figured he’d have to change something, but he only had to shave hairs on one part of animation to get the R rating instead of NC-17. These filmmakers get away with a lot.
Is this worth your bucks? This is a film to see with friends who are game for an explicite but smart and clever movie. You’ve got to go with an open mind and be ready to laugh, even nervously at some of the jokes on this raunchy buffet. Michael Cera says this is a film that’s fun to see with an audience because it has “real energy that cooks.” There were plenty of guffaws as well as uncomfortable laughter at our screening, But even Rogen says after making Sausage Party, he can’t look at food the same way…and you won’t be able to either!
Sony/Columbia Pictures 1 hour 29 minutes R Reviewed August 12, 2016
