Sausage Party (MA). Directors: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon. Starring: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Nick Kroll. 89 minutes
It would be a stretch to describe this adult animation, about the plight of a bunch of anthropomorphic groceries, as satire. That would imply some semblance of subtlety and semantic wit. Sausage Party is about as subtle as — well, as comparing a hotdog and its bun to the male and female sex organs. Less subtle than that even, given that its heroes Frank the hotdog (voiced by Rogen) and Brenda the bun (Wiig) long for an encounter that is explicitly carnal.
At the same time, it might be precious to dismiss it as juvenile. This, after all, is billed as a movie by 'the guys who brought you' the grotesque apocalyptic comedy This is the End; said 'guys' also have their various names on films like the high-school-misfits-trying-to-lose-their-virginity gross-out Superbad, the stoner action comedy Pineapple Express, and the irreverent rom-com Knocked Up. If you've seen those films, you know the level of man-child humour to expect.
Whether it serves a greater purpose is an open question. Certainly it lacks the inherent warmth that is a strength of some of those films. But it does strive for a level of sophistication. The groceries adhere to an overtly religious creed that states they will be rewarded for their existence on the supermarket shelves by being carried by 'the gods' (human shoppers) into the 'great beyond', where the pleasures that they have denied themselves will finally be fulfilled.
Of course it's a lie; to be chosen is in fact to be massacred and consumed by said gods. The creed is a panacea to give a semblance of meaning to an otherwise meaningless existence. The lesson learned by various characters who discover the truth is that the lie of religion must be discarded so that true meaning can be found elsewhere, in the pleasures of existence itself; the film concludes with a mass food orgy that would be X-rated if it weren't in animated form.
As far as it goes, then, the commentary on religion reels from cheeky to insulting. At the same time it is vaguely insightful. There's a bagel, coded as Jewish, and a lavash (Armenian flatbread), coded as Palestinian, who clash because they have to share an aisle. 'Isn't the aisle big enough for both of you?' asks Frank.
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