Showing posts with label Michael Cera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Cera. Show all posts

Wednesday, 16 November 2016

Review: Sausage Party (2016)

sausage-party-review-2016
When I posted my ‘2016 Comedy Special’ mini reviews, I thought I’d seen all of the big comedy releases of this summer. Then I spotted someone’s review of Sausage Party in my blogger feed, and I let out a long sigh. There was one I had missed. When Seth Rogen and James Franco are together, they are so hit or miss for me. I’ve never seen one of their movies and thought ‘eh, that was alright’, it’s always one extreme or the other. And I really wasn’t sold by the trailer.

Of course, this animated movie is Seth Rogen’s baby that just so happens to feature James Franco, but I find Seth like that one guy in your friend group or school that's completely lovely and funny on his own, but when he’s with that particular friend, he turns into a complete ass. I sound really bitter, don’t I?

Sausage Party is like every other animated movie you’ve seen starring inanimate objects, with one difference. It’s rude. Like, extremely rude. Sexual jokes, racist jokes, down right dirty jokes, fly left right and center here. The stand out example here is in the opening scene, when a jar of german mustard announces his wishes to eliminate the juice. Say it out loud, and it’ll soon click for you. The ‘f’ in his logo is expertly designed to look like a very infamous symbol, too. That’s when you do that nervous kind of laugh where you know you shouldn’t find it funny, but it’s downright hilarious.

sausage-party-seth-rogen-kristen-wiig

I actually had quite a bit of hope to begin with. If you’re not aware of the plot yet, the movie is about a bunch of groceries in a supermarket, living their lives, waiting to be chosen by the Gods to be taken to the ‘great beyond’. In this particular store, the groceries start each morning with a song all about it, and how certain they are that absolutely nothing will ge wrong should they be chosen. Sorry, but it’s still not quite as funny as Olaf the Snowman wanting to see what summer is all about!

Frank the sausage (Seth Rogen) is the star of the show, alongside his lover Brenda (Kristen Wiig), a hotdog bun. The two get chosen to leave but everything goes wrong, leaving them with the mission of getting back home to warn everyone else. It’s a simple enough story, but my biggest problem with it is that it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is this a simple, ‘fart jokes’ comedy, or is a comedy with a hidden, deeper meaning? It’s both, which is confusing as hell.

sausage-party-toilet-paper-gum-chips

But what really ruined it for me was the scene outside, with the zombie corn. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll be shuddering right now because you’ll know exactly what I’m on about. A giant, cartoon-rendered turd on the floor being eaten by zombie corn. And it gets worse, because next on screen is a talking, used condom. I mean USED. Ugh.

I don’t know what I expected really. In some ways, Sausage Party was better than I thought it would be, but it’s still largely unfunny, and downright gross. That’s just me though, I know plenty of people will absolutely love this, because it’s the kind of humour they enjoy. At least I can now say I’ve seen all the big 2016 comedies! I think?


Friday, 11 April 2014

Review: Juno (2007)

After being out on Saturday night till the wee hours, and spending all day playing table top games with friends on Sunday, I was shattered and had just enough time to squeeze in a film before going to bed. I needed something light-hearted and not too long, so I put on Juno.

 
 
If you've never heard of Juno before, it's a comedy/drama centralised on a 16 year old girl called Juno MacGuff, who gets pregnant after a night with her best friend Bleeker. She then has to make an important decision about what to do with the baby.
 
I bought this on DVD about 2 years ago, I'm pretty sure it was a 'Oh hey I've heard of this film, and it's mega cheap!' kind of moment, and so it's sat gathering dust ever since. I am SO glad that I finally watched it last night though.
 
What struck me first of all was the soundtrack. I'm not normally one to comment on music in films but the songs were so catchy, I've got one stuck in my head right now as I'm typing this...'Here is the church and here is the steeple, we sure are cute for two ugly people'... I am going to have to find the soundtrack for my iTunes tonight for sure.
 
What got me next was the humour. I love comedies, all kinds, from staged, obvious American humour to sarcastic British humour, but this really made me laugh out loud. Not belly laughs, but little snorts here and there. The humour in this is really subtle and if you were half listening you'd miss it all together, but I think that makes it funnier! Just a quick example below...
 


 
 
I thought I knew exactly what was going to happen before I even watched this. Not that I minded much, but I'm sure you can imagine what kind of plot I was thinking of. And I was wrong. I was so happy to be wrong, because that made me love this film even more. Get this, my other half even turned his laptop off just to finish watching this with me. Now, you really know it was a good film!