Sausage Party is not a light movie. Instead of toys or fish, this movie asks the question: What if the items in a supermarket were thinking, feeling beings with their own aspirations and desires? The answer, of course, is that they would realise they live in a nightmare world where their only purpose is to fuel and service humans.
A movie so dark could only be rated R. Any scene with a potato being peeled as it screams in agony would be enough to earn that rating. Sausage Party goes beyond that particular pale. Think of the most offensive thing you could think of. The rawest, most explicit thing imaginable.
Sausage Party is worse than that. It doesn't push the envelope - it takes a rocket and blasts it to space.
I can think of a few people who would be put off by the movie's content. It tries to offend everyone it can think of. If you're the type to get offended by South Park or Team America, this is not for you. For me, while the jokes were sometimes a little juvenile, they were always funny. And for every joke that was too childish, there'd be four or five that were quite clever.
That cleverness comes from the cultural significance of food. For instance, two of the characters are a Jewish bagel and a Palestinian lavash. They bicker because they share the same supermarket aisle, both claiming ownership, giving you the supermarket version of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That's just one of the many touchy subjects Sausage Party decides to address that most movies are content to leave be.
It's actually as thoughtful as it is clever. Sausage Party gives you vulnerable characters and examines their lives in a meaningful way. It has heavy content that will actually make you think about it after seeing it and it might give you some perspective in your own life. Then five minutes later, there'll be another sex joke.
Mixed bag, really.
Sausage Party was better than I'd expected. It actually has characters you can get into and is brimming with creativity. Many moments will have you crying or laughing, others will make you so uncomfortable that you'll consider leaving the cinema. I'm more the former than the latter and, for that, I'd definitely go see this again - if only just for the reactions at the last 10 minutes.
That's stuff you just can't unsee.
Rating: Big Screen Watch