Director Brandon Trost
Genre Comedy | Drama
Cast Seth Rogen, Sarah Snook, Sean Whalen, Jorma Taccone
Rating PG-13
Release Date August 6th, 2020 (HBO Max)
“An immigrant worker at a pickle factory is accidentally preserved for 100 years and wakes up in modern day Brooklyn.”
Directed by Brandon Trost (This is the End, Neighbors) and based on Simon Rich’s New Yorker novella, An American Pickle tells the story of an immigrant worker who falls into a vat of pickles and is brined for 100 years. The brine preserves him perfectly, and when he emerges in present day Brooklyn, he finds that he hasn't aged a day.
An American Pickle starts out feeling a lot like a direct-to-streaming movie, but before long it get it’s legs and tells a great story regardless of how absolutely insane it may be. The premise itself is ridiculous of course but that is part of the charm of the film as a whole, setting a certain tone that it sticks with throughout. I mean think about it, if you met your great grandfather who lived life in the 1900’s and dug ditches for a living just to make ends meet, what would he think of you and the life you lead? He would first tell you that you’re soft as baby sh*t as Craig Robinson would say (This is The End reference of course), and quickly move on to wondering what in the hell happened to society as a whole. We are soft, and I will be the first to admit it. I mean sure plenty has changed for the better, but wearing a winter hat during the summer still rubs me the wrong way. I love that the idea for An American Pickle came from this exact potential interaction and for me it plays out in the film perfectly.
I’m a big Seth Rogen guy so it was a treat getting to see him x2 in this film. I thought he did a great job taking on multiple roles and I felt like he really immersed himself in both characters. An American Pickle is a generational clash at its core, but it digs deeper than that and proves that regardless of how different we may seem on the surface (or under our weird choices for outfits), our core values are more similar than we realize.
Loaded with light-hearted social commentary, An American Pickle pokes fun at today’s political climate but in the end proves its heart is in the right place. A sense of humor is a necessity this day and age and a film like this helps to bring us back to earth a bit if you ask me.
At just under an hour and 30 minutes of total runtime, An American Pickle is an easy watch that you certainly won’t regret. Recommended.
