'Sausage Party' Review

'Sausage Party' shocked people worldwide as a seemingly harmless animated movie about foods turned into a Rated R, profanity filled adult comedy. The trailer gained mass attention due to this and soon became the hottest comedy of the year. Sometimes the hype can really hurt a film but 'Sausage Party' delivers, bringing more than the trailer promised it would.

It's almost the Fourth of July and that means that many people will preparing for BBQ's all over the country. However inside the supermarkets, the foods think they are going to a 'great beyond'. Frank the sausage (Seth Rogen) discovers the unsettling truth that they are sold to become a part of a meal. With the help from his bun girlfriend Brenda (Kristen Wiig) and Sammy Bagel Jr (Edward Norton), they will look for a way to warn the others and stop the humans from feasting on them.

A constant problem in Hollywood surrounding trailers, especially with comedies, is that they show all the best bits and laughs. 'Sausage Party' clearly made a huge impact with its foul-mouthed teaser that showcased a sweet animation style with a very twisted humour to it. There were great moments showcased in the trailer but I'm very happy to say that 'Sausage Party' have plenty of firepower to back up the taster that we got. There are so many great laughs and also features a moment referencing one of my favourite movies of all time which is one of my favourite movie moments this year. I won't spoil it for you as it is truly great and unexpected.

It's very safe to say that this movie most definitely won't be for everyone. Personally, I can't imagine the likes of my parents watching this and thinking it was any good. The film is filled to the brim with crude humour as jokes about/surrounding sex and drugs is the main topic a lot of the time. Due to this, I can see why people may be off put by it as it can get quite old at times. It does beat you over the head with the jokes about the same things which does hurt the film as you get the point but it continues to use the same material in every scene. The runtime of 99 minutes definitely helps as if it were any longer, you may have felt jokes become really repetitive and start to get sick of them.

There is a bit of a problem at time with the humour at times as it doesn't seem that creative. At times, it really is just vulgar for the sake of it and makes a whole lot of references to the way certain foods look. There are so many horrible puns throughout the movie that are terrible and you will get sick of them. It doesn't really work that well at any stage so it becomes very repetitive and seems very lazy after they do it for the 6th time. This disappointed me as it let down the comedy in the film as it wasn't as consistent the whole way through.

It was also shown that the film would go all out, not holding back at any times. This is most apparent in the final act where the last half n hour or so goes completely nuts. You won't see a more crazy ending to a film this year, I guarantee that to you. You won't believe your eyes as these cute characters go all out in one of the most shocking scenes I have ever seen.

 This was one of the big selling points as there wasn't anything quite like this with animation. When you think of animated movies, you are drawn to think of Disney and Pixar. You mainly think of children or family orientated movies but 'Sausage Party' has opened the door for more adult comedies within the world of animation. Seth Rogen has even expressed that he would like to explore this further and if his next project is as good as 'Sausage Party', then I am all for it.

Despite all of the focus being on the comedy aspects of the film, 'Sausage Party' surprisingly does very well commenting on problems in the real world. The film shocked me with how well it handled the likes of how we look at the likes of religion nowadays and how we're so rude to each other depending on our beliefs. It's actually quite an integral part of the story as we see Frank fail due to how he handles telling people the truth about what they thought was real. He is disrespectful and if you go on the web, you will probably see similar things as people are insulting those with different beliefs. The same thing happens with the characters who seem to be of different race. Although the characters are stereotyped for humour, the foods each carry negative stereotypes about each other that unfortunately exist in the real world. When seeing the marketing for this movie, I never expected something like this and is a key aspect of the film that works incredibly well.

Overall, I was impressed with 'Sausage Party'. There are many great moments that will bring you a lot of laughs throughout the runtime. There is an inconsistency though with parts of the comedy not working well at all which really hinders the overall quality of the film. The commentary on the likes of religion is fantastic and was unexpected adding a great layer to the film. One of the best comedies of the year nonetheless with a totally insane final act.

Final Verdict = 

So have you seen 'Sausage Party'? If so what did you think of it? I hope that this review was useful for if you were planning on seeing the movie! Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor

'Bad Neighbours 2' Review

Comedy sequels are perhaps the biggest hits or misses in the movie industry. There have been some great ones with the likes of the 'Vacation' franchise- bar the latest- and the Monty Python films. Even recently, '22 Jump Street' proved that pulling off a sequel to a comedy can be done very well. Unfortunately for us, these are outdone by the amount of terrible sequels. The 'Dumb and Dumber To's and 'Evan Almighty's of the world leave a very bad taste when it comes to second instalments in comedy. Even more unfortunately for us is that 'Bad Neighbours 2' is in the pile of terrible ones.

We again follow Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) who have just sold their house- or so they think. They don't realise they are in escrow where they have a "30 day, don't fuck up" period where the buyers can pull out if they see something wrong with the home or in this case, neighbourhood. Trouble then arrives in Kappa Nu led by Chloe Grace Moretz's character Shelby who have a sole intention of partying and doing whatever they please. You'd expect this to be like the first one with crazy antics throughout. Instead it shows potential and then goes down with a wimper.

I enjoyed the first 'Bad Neighbours' and had quite a great time watching the film. Sadly the magic from the first was not apparent in the sequel. So many jokes within this film fell so short and were nowhere near the standard set by the first. This may be down to the fact that the rivalry between the neighbours was not nearly as good. The stakes seemed to be raised in the story but isn't carried through forward through in the comedy. There was an opportunity for this film to be bigger and better due to this but unfortunately, this was a opportunity that was missed.

The new face of fear for Mac and Kelly comes in the form of Shelby played by Chloe Grace Moretz. The character has so many inconsistencies throughout the movie whether it is from the way that the character acts. From acting like a non-sense taking character that she promised to be in the early stages, to becoming an indecisive and simply annoying character throughout the film. For me, she didn't carry the presence to pose a total threat to the potential movers. I feel like I'm saying this a lot but again this had potential. The way the character acted at first by being disgusted at what was happening and by doing whatever she wanted to was great and looked to be leading to something exciting. Unfortunately the character doesn't keep this up the whole way through and is only kept going by others bailing her out, including Kelly at one point.

The film takes female empowerment in its grasp and tries to use it as a driving force for these girls who don't like the conventional ways of college partying. Their 'everything is sexist' attitude becomes annoying and is used most of the time just as a petty excuse. There is a scene in this movie where it claims that it is sexist when Zac Efron's returning character Teddy says that Kappa Nu using used tampons was gross. This was one of the few times this was tried to be done but not to good effect. The film even does it terribly at times with the sorority blatantly using their sex appeal against their enemies, a point that seemed to move them away from the conventional parties. Again, this could have worked had it been done correctly with actual reasoning to them saying it. 

The returning characters certainly didn't help the film either. Teddy (Efron) is a mess throughout the film, feeling under appreciated wherever he goes leading to him switching allegiances. He is often mopey and down in his spirits throughout the film which doesn't allow him to excel comically nearly as well as he did in the first one. The jokes between Mac and Kelly are the same recycled jokes based on weed and their struggles to have sex in their new life with a child. They don't work as well and get old after a while. The film is really immature from start to finish and if you really enjoy that, you may get enjoyment from this one. I don't feel that the usually funny cast delivered to their full poential in this film. Even the short parts from the likes of  the returning Dave Franco and  Lisa Kudrow as well as Billy Eichner (Parks and Rec) didn't work as well as they really could have.

I actually did get enjoyment from returning characters Jimmy (Ike Barinholtz) and Paula (Carla Gallo). Jimmy's antics worked well for me including the use of his clown costume used throughout the film. The pairs antics were entertaining throughout the film and made it that little more enjoyable for me.

The film does try to recreate some of the best moments from the first one. The head to head antics are at times clever but there are some that don't have as good an effect. The ending in this film seems very lack lustre as we expect things to continue to build up to a boiling point where one finally gets the vital advantage over the other. Instead it ends incredibly peacefully leading to quite an anti climatic finish. This was disappointing as it failed to deliver a satisfying ending after sitting through a lower than average comedy.

An extra point added to this film. It is the first film that made me put my head in my hands due to it being bad. There is a scene where it switches up and tries to portray a black police officer as being unfairly brutal to white people. Absolutely terrible and I can't believe it was put into this film.

Final Verdict = 

 

One of my worst experiences this year at the cinema for me. I got very little enjoyment from this one finding it unfunny throughout the film. Same stick and not up to standard comedy led me to not get full enjoyment from this one. There was potential for this film to be good but unfortunately the execution just wasn't there.

So have you seen 'Bad Neighbours 2'? If so what did you think of it? I hope you enjoyed it more than I did as well. Once again thank you for reading my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor

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