It's been a bleak summer for the major studios. Chock-full of reboots, sequels, and brooding superheroes, most of this year's would-be blockbusters have been torn to shreds by critics (and the box-office returns haven't been much better). In particular, the multiplex has been lacking in truly gut-busting comedies as of late. So without much competition, Sausage Party stakes its claim as the funniest film of the season -- an absurd and riotously offensive animated flick for adults about talking food.
The massive grocery store Shopwell's is in the midst of a Fourth of July sale, and every item is eager to be chosen by the "gods" (i.e. humans) so that they can reach "the great beyond." Packaged sausages Frank (voiced by Seth Rogen), Barry (Michael Cera), and Carl (Jonah Hill) are desperate to be deemed worthy of purchase so that they can escape their plastic prisons and enjoy the carnal pleasures that (they think) await them. Next to the sausages are a pack of buns, which include Frank's girlfriend Brenda (Kristen Wiig). They're thrilled when they are both chosen by the same human, until a shopping-cart crash ejects Frank and Brenda onto the store's floor.
The rest of the sausages and buns meet their fate -- being cooked and devoured by human beings -- except for Barry, who escapes from being eaten and tries to get back to the store to warn the others. Meanwhile, Frank and Brenda embark on a journey through Shopwell's in an attempt to return to their aisle, where they hope to repackage themselves so they can be purchased by new customers. They're joined on this trek by Jewish bagel Sammy (Edward Norton), Arabic flatbread Lavash (David Krumholtz), and lesbian taco Teresa (Salma Hayek). The group eventually come across the "nonperishables" -- a bottle of alcohol (Bill Hader), a box of grits (Craig Robinson), and a deranged Twinkie (Scott Underwood) -- who reveal that they invented the myth of the "great beyond" in order to keep the peace inside the store. Frank tries to tell his fellow food items the truth as Barry heads to Shopwell's, both of their arcs setting up a finale that defies all expectations.
Let's be clear here: Sausage Party is unquestionably dumb and distasteful, but the jokes land frequently enough to justify the nastiness. Directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan, and written by Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter, and Ariel Shaffir, it's a comedy that will be derided and reviled by many. But adult animation is subversive by its very nature (since it's appropriating a genre usually meant for kids), and Sausage Party is a blunt-force send-up of this very mentality, reminding viewers that so-called children's movies are often absurd and macabre in their own right. Remember Toy Story's Sid, who mutilated "living" playthings? Or the self-immolating air conditioner from The Brave Little Toaster? Sausage Party takes that idea to the next level by using bro-tinged, gross-out humor to ramp up the ridiculousness of the film, complete with weed smoking, bath-salt injections, and a Saving Private Ryan parody.
The nonstop double entendres and slapstick gags include a bevy of curses, as well as a bunch of racial stereotypes and existential ruminations on the meaninglessness of life. It's simultaneously a juvenile comedy and a satire of our own struggles with confronting our mortality, one that takes aim at hypocritical social mores: Frank and Brenda desperately wish to consummate their relationship, but fear the vengeance of a higher power; Teresa fights her desires for Brenda; and Lavash and Sammy were "born" to hate one another due to their accents and aisle placements. Although its themes and references to life in a multicultural society are a bit on-the-nose, Sausage Party is still packed with way more social commentary than you would expect from a movie full of exaggerated stereotypes, sex jokes, and food murder.
At the same time, it totally works as just a four-letter-word-heavy, hard-R animated comedy about talking supermarket products. Oh, and if you thought "food porn" was a term reserved solely for filtered /Instagram pics, you're in for quite a surprise.