Seth Rogen’s An American Pickle arrives to streaming – but are you better off watching Big again?
AN AMERICAN PICKLE
(Dir: Brandon Trost | Time: 1h30mins | On HBO Max)
Since their heyday in the 1980s, with the likes of Big, Coming to America and, ahem, Crocodile Dundee, fish out of water comedies have become a little harder to come by.
So it was with nostalgia-tinged excitement that I awaited the arrival of An American Pickle, particularly given Seth Rogen’s track record for quirky comedies.
Based on a hilarious short story, the film also boasts a wonderfully surreal twist on the classic premise.
Herschel Greenbaum, a hard-working, traditional and proud Jewish immigrant who fled a comically-impoverished and mud-ridden eastern European village, falls into a vat of pickles in 1920’s gritty Brooklyn.
Perfectly preserved – of course – he wakes up 100 years later in the now famously trendy and woke neighbourhood.
His only living relative is great-great-grandson Ben, who shares his age and face – they are both played by Rogen – but could not be more different.
A product of his comfortable environment and two generations of social mobility, he is a secular, ethically minded and soft-spoken app developer.
Playing both the straight man and the wild card, and somehow managing to achieve chemistry between them, it is something of a tour de force performance from Rogen.
With a heavy accent and a mixture of self-assurance and ignorance, the bearded and politically incorrect Herschel brings out his wilder comedic talents. He deftly mines the culture clashes for Borat-esque laughs.
But the joy of the family reunion – and Herschel’s pride at Ben’s modest achievements such as owning 25 pairs of socks – is short-lived. The relationship turns sour and the pair soon become rivals.
Greenbaum Senior strikes out on his own in search for success and quickly finds it in Brooklyn, thanks to his effortless and genuine vintage appeal.
His sloppily and cheaply assembled pickles – using rainwater, reclaimed jars and store-rejected cucumbers – quickly become a hip commodity in a neighbourhood looking for the latest artisanal trends.
An American Pickle’s biggest laughs and sharpest satire come in this lively first half.
The set-up is straight from the short story Sell Out, a hilarious stab at hipster culture and spoiled millennials by hot writer Simon Rich. (The former Saturday Night Live scribe’s catalogue has already been raided for at least three other movies currently in production.)
But beyond that the film somewhat falls apart.
It tries to scale up the satire for the big screen, playing with larger themes of political correctness and cancel culture in the social media age, while also dialling up the family schmaltz.
To get there, the story is stretched into uninspired directions and it can’t reconcile the silliness with an attempted pull on the heart strings. Despite various comedic set pieces, there are diminishing returns.
Rogen ensures there is charm and occasional chuckles along the way, but, after a string of impressive comedies from his production company, this seems like a wasted opportunity.
Even at just 1h30mins, An American Pickle feels baggy. Read the short story instead.
Verdict: 6/10. Misfires satirically and emotionally, but as a silly fish-out-of-water comedy it brings a few good laughs, thanks to Rogen’s double-act and some sharp stabs at hipster culture.
***
For fish-out-of-water antics with more bite, try instead the classics BIG, the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy or Jim Carrey’s superb THE TRUMAN SHOW.
MS