Sausage Party Review Roundup

The R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party comes to theaters this Friday, August 12. Ahead of that, reviews for the film have started to show up online. We've collected a handful of these to help you decide if the film is worth your time and money.

Sausage Party tells the story of how grocery store products discover the horror of what happens when they go home. The main character is a sausage named Frank (voiced by Seth Rogen), who leads a group of food items on a journey of discovery and survival. Rogen also wrote the movie alongside his Superbad and Pineapple Express collaborator Evan Goldberg.

The film features the voices of many funny people, including Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, and Salma Hayek.

One thing to note about the reviews below is that, with the exception of the critique from HitFix, they all stemmed from SXSW screenings in March. As Variety's review explains, the SXSW version had "glaringly apparent" rough edges and some scenes were not in their final state. We will continue to add more reviews to this roundup as they become available.

• Film: Sausage Party
• Directors: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon
• Writers: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
• Distributor: Columbia Pictures
• Release Date: August 12
• Rating: R

Variety

"For those of you who have ever envisioned Seth Rogen reconstituted as an anthropomorphic processed meat product--and you know who you are--Sausage Party may be savored as, if not a dream come true, then a drug-fueled hallucination without the potentially harmful side effects." -- Joe Leydon [Full review]

The Hollywood Reporter

"Not content with this exhaustive exploration of the carnal possibilities of foodstuffs, the film then gets meta, with a coda crossing over into the world of live action. Look out, Hollywood: These groceries are tired of being manipulated for the amusement of those who eat their brethren. They're coming for you, Seth Rogen--wipe that mustard and relish off your face." -- John DeFore [Full review]

HitFix

"Sausage Party is a milestone in studio animation because it feels like animators being unleashed, and considering the largely unrealized potential of animation, that is a welcome thing, indeed." -- Drew McWeeny [Full review]

ScreenCrush

"Rogen has proved himself to be one of our finest modern comedic talents, expertly blending smart, dumb, and funny (I'm still convinced This Is the End is a near masterpiece), but Sausage Party feels more like Kevin Smith at his most immature. Let me be frank: It's not the wurst, but I've still got some beef with this movie that you won't relish having to digest. And that's no baloney." -- Mike Sampson [Full review]

IndieWire

"Though it plays like a Pixar movie on acid, the film is also a brisk disappointment that takes every opportunity to shock, maim, or offend; for every inspired gag that earns a massive laugh, there are too many others that rely on food puns or the funniest variation of 'f**k' for a cartoon hot dog to say." -- Charlie Schmidlin [Full review]

The Guardian

"Talk about fresh. Seth Rogen's naughty food cartoon Sausage Party is, like much of his best work, deceptive packaging. The script he and his usual collaborator Evan Goldberg have written (in conjunction with Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir) seems, at first, to trade solely on anthropomorphized food using profanity on supermarket shelves. This is mildly amusing at first but, like a bun out of its Cellophane, threatens to go stale. That's when a jar of honey mustard gets returned." -- Jordan Hoffman [Full review]