Hot dog! Gross R-rated 'Sausage Party' meats with approval
Out of the 50 funniest jokes in this hard-R-rated animated comedy, not one can be repeated in a family-friendly news outlet.
Parents foolish enough to let kids see "Sausage Party" will be forced to deal with them refusing to eat anything or drink anything. Ever again.
Especially after they watch a gigantic woman scoop up terrified baby carrots, pop them in her mouth and grind them to death between her teeth as they scream.
"Not the children!" a horrified adult vegetable shrieks.
This is the kind of movie that PETA would sponsor if it stood for People for the Ethical Treatment of AnythingYouPutInYourMouth.
Despite the tawdry double/triple/quadruple entrendres and randy depictions of mating food substances, "Sausage Party" is, by turns, a subversive religious allegory, a hilarious sendup of horror and adventure clichés, a wicked commentary on real-world politics, a jab at racial and religious stereotypes, and a rude and lewd comedy that "Hangover" fans should appreciate.
At a typical suburban supermarket, every surrealistic morning begins with singing ears of corn, backed up by a veritable chorus of dancing fruits.
In this world undetected by the human eye, beverages and food substances become sentient entities united in the belief that one day human gods will lift them out of the supermarket and transport them into the promised "great beyond" where they will spend eternity in bliss.
In the meantime, Frank the hot dog (Seth Rogen) yearns for the day when he can nestle up inside curvaceous Brenda the bun (Kristen Wiig).
But a terrible shopping cart accident not only kills Peanut Butter's wife, Strawberry Jam (oozing "blood"), but sets Frank off on a journey to find Brenda. Instead, he discovers something shocking: the truth!
The whole "land beyond" thing turns out to be a hoax devised by the non-perishables - immortal beings who never expire - led by the wise Firewater (Bill Hader).
How can one little hot dog tell his foodie friends that the single thing giving them purpose is a lie?
Frank's odyssey throws him in the company of characters as fascinating as those Alice discovered through the looking glass.
Sammy Bagel, Jr. (Edward Norton) is Jewish. He lives on the other side of the aisle from an Arabic piece of flatbread, Lavash (David Krumholtz), who can't wait for the day he can spend eternity with 77 bottles of extra-virgin olive oil.
Other characters include Teresa the taco (Salma Hayek), whose hard shell softens at the sight of Brenda, and poor short sausage Barry (Michael Cera), who worries that size really does matter.
The story's villain is a real Douche. No, seriously, that's the name of Nick Kroll's bully, who wants Brenda for his own twisted purposes. (His Freudian top is literally twisted.)
Co-directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon keep the zingers flying, the anti-PC barbs pointed, and the sight gags gagging in a fast and furious comedy that you should probably see twice just to absorb all the witty cracks and jibes devised by writers Rogen, Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir and Evan Gold (with Jonah Hill receiving a story-by credit, as well as playing Carl the sausage).
Who better to make a movie that's like a Pixar film on a bad acid trip?
“Sausage Party”
★ ★ ★ ½
Starring: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Salma Hayek, Paul Rudd, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, Michael Cera, Edward Norton, Nick Kroll
Directed by: Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan
Other: A Columbia Pictures release. Rated R for drug use, language, sexual situations. 89 minutes