Gleefully profane, ‘Sausage Party’ shocks and awes

“Sausage Party” is an insanely obscene romp through an animated supermarket after hours, kind of like an almost-X-rated version of “Toy Story” in which every utterance of, “To infinity and beyond!” is replaced by some variation of an F-bomb.

So, you know, yay.

To be sure, there are times when directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon, working from a story by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Jonah Hill, go overboard with everything. That is part of the point. This film is an equal-opportunity offender, a remarkably foul-mouthed movie. To say that it is not for the faint of heart is a ridiculous understatement.

That is part of the point, too.

But lurking just beyond all the sex and sex talk and sex and assorted profanity is an oddly touching look at life, expectations, faith and belief. Seriously. Granted, the bulk of it is delivered by a dope-smoking hot dog, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. (Does it?)

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Rogen provides the voice of that hot dog, named Frank, naturally. He, along with every other item in the store, lives in the hope that one day they will be selected by the gods — humans doing their shopping — to go to the Great Beyond, which is whatever paradise lies beyond the automatic doors. It is the stuff of legend (literally), as well as the subject of a gleefully profane song everyone sings to start their day. (Like some of the bits, the song wears out its welcome fairly quickly.)

It’s crucial that every food product make itself as attractive as possible. Frank is encased in a package with other weenies, including a defective one named Barry (Michael Cera), who hurts their chances of being purchased; only Frank among the other hot dogs is nice to him.

Frank’s girlfriend is a bun named Brenda (Kristen Wiig), who lives in the package next door. They dream of the day when they can consummate their relationship, which is about 50 times more politely than they put it. (Sure, a hot dog and bun have an intimate relationship, but who would have thought to take it in a sexual direction? Rogen and Goldberg, of course, who have long wanted to make this film.)

The Fourth of July approaches, which is pretty much a guarantee that all of the hot dogs and buns will be snatched up. But a jar of Honey Mustard (Danny McBride) gets returned and is transformed by the unspeakable things he has seen on the outside. It isn’t paradise, he warns. It’s a one-way ticket to being eaten.

Everyone thinks Honey Mustard is crazy, but he causes an incident that plunges everything into chaos (a hilarious clean-up incident that looks like a disaster movie). Frank and Brenda escape, along with Sammy Bagel Jr. (Edward Norton) and Lavash (David Krumholtz), whose uneasy truce serves as a kind of F-bomb version of the conflict in the Middle East. Also surviving is Douche (Nick Kroll), the angry feminine-hygiene product who has it out for Frank and Brenda.

Frank gets separated from the group and winds up with Firewater (Bill Hader), a Non-Perishable who is a kind of Native American elder. He, too, claims knowledge of the Great Beyond and offers proof, which Frank decides he must check out. Meanwhile Brenda and the others try to make it home to their displays before the store opens, with the help of Teresa Taco (Salma Hayek), who has her own reasons for assisting them.

Meanwhile Barry has made it to the Great Beyond and seen what goes on there. His misadventures with a bath-salts-injecting loser (James Franco) seem as far as the movie can go. Until the orgy. Trust me, you have to see it to believe it.

And yes, you should see it. True, the film is sometimes gratuitous, especially in the way profanity is used. Just cursing doesn’t make something funny, and sometimes Rogen and his pals seem like they’re just saying stuff because they can, daring the audience not to gasp. (Hint: They win, every time.)

But the comedy hits more than it misses; this is a really funny movie. And it’s thoughtful, as well, in its $@#* way. Again, if it sounds offensive to you, seriously, you’ll probably faint. If not, it’s worth a shot. You’ve certainly not seen anything like it before.

Rating: Two and a half stars (out of four)