It’s so tough to review a movie that does everything exactly right until the ending, and then blows it. Do you grade the 95% of the movie you really loved or the last 5% you rememebered as the last thing you saw before leaving the theater?
What Works: Seth Rogen wanted to make a movie about the stupidity of religion that people would actually watch and might have a prayer (pun intended) of getting a somewhat mainstream audience to see it. So, naturally, he went animated and had cute, cuddly food characters make his points, and the disconnect between cuddly food items and what these characters are saying works a lot better than you might think. [Unlike rapping old people, the joke actually does work for an hour and a half.]
With taboo-smashing glee, we’re introduced to Jewish bagels, cantankerous Islamic products, lesbian tacos, fuckable buns, spiritual Native American products, gay Twinkies, and suicidal Honey Mustard, and it’s incredible how well-thought out Rogen’s surreal supermarket universe is while still containing believable hallmarks like depressed, sullen cashiers. Nick Kroll’s literal douche bag may annoy some, but I found his Jersey Shore, bully-boy parody inspired.
What Doesn’t: I was sad to see Danny McBride (the stand-out player in “This is the End”) play such a small role. But the movie largely doesn’t strike a false note, until…
The ending climax is a cathartic, violent cop-out that largely undermines the point the movie’s been trying to make—that people don’t need to religion to be good people—by turning the food items into blood-lusting monsters. Even worse, the very ending is a fourth-wall breaking deux ex machina ending promising a sequel nobody asked for. Sequels are not–so far–Rogen’s strong point (“Neighbors 2”), and it would have been more satisfying to see one perfect movie about supermarket awakening stand on its own.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Rather than have all supermarket food become aware, wouldn’t it have been better (and more…gulp…”realistic”) to have just Rogen’s hot dog and a handful of others know the truth while the rest kept believing? That wouldn’t have devolved in a faux-“satisfying” explosion of violence, and might have gotten at a deeper truth about how lonely the truth can be.