A sausage strives to discover the truth about his existence.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a genuinely R-rated animated movie so ‘Sausage Party’ is a welcome entry in that regard, even if it isn’t as funny as it thinks it is. Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and starring much of their regular collaborators, ‘Sausage Party’ is a funny movie and there’s plenty of laughs scattered throughout the relatively short runtime. The premise of the film is fairly similar to the likes of ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Wreck It-Ralph’, in that it imagines a world where ‘things’ come to life. In the latter two cases, that was toys and computer game characters; in ‘Sausage Party’ its food and drinks (alongside a few other items found in the supermarket). Obviously, this is a far filthier kind of film than those films, and is obviously aiming for an older audience so you won’t want your kids seeing this!

Beyond the initial outline of foodstuff coming to life, the film builds a wider narrative around the characters mission to reach ‘the great beyond’, not the R.E.M. song but a catch all phrase for the world outside the supermarket, where the characters believe they are going to meet their ultimate destiny. We know what we do with food and drink so it’s no surprise when the characters are shocked that ‘the great beyond’ isn’t the paradise they hoped it would be, and ‘Sausage Party’ gets a lot of mileage out of following its main characters once they discover this horrible truth. Our main viewpoint is Frank (Seth Rogen), a sausage who can’t wait to get out of his package and into the friendly bun (Kristen Wiig) on the next shelf along. Yes, this is the kind of humour at times, and whilst there’s some fun in the puerility and the swearing, it does start to grate at times. It fares a lot better with some of the smarter gags that rely on our expectations of certain food items or some of the characters based on real people (Meat Loaf arguably the standout, even if it’s obvious!).

Your enjoyment of ‘Sausage Party’ is likely to depend much on your enjoyment of Rogen and Goldberg’s previous work and your taste for this particular brand of humour, but I thought it was a good laugh and would recommend it for a silly, turn your brain off kind of evening’s viewing.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon

Starring: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek, Anders Holm, Sugar Lyn Beard, Lauren Miller, Harland Williams, Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan and Scott Underwood

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1700841/