Delayed Reaction: An American Pickle

Premise: An immigrant living in New York in 1920 gets perfectly preserved in pickle juice for 100 years and wakes up in the modern day where he feuds with his great grandson.

 

That was not the movie I expected. It was much more. And I don't mean better. I mean more. There's about 2.5 hours of story in this 89-minute movie. There's a story about loneliness and loss - how to honor those you love. It's an examination of faith. It's an odd couple movie. There's an entire story about a character building a pickle empire. Then a body swap story. It has a religious bent. I can't forget all the time spent on commentary about cancel culture, Trump, and modern life. Every ten minutes I felt like I was watching a different movie. It was impressive how much the movie fit in, but I would've preferred something more focused. Whenever the movie felt like it was going to go somewhere profound or interesting beyond the surface level, it moved onto something else. That was disappointing.

 

Seth Rogen is quite good in the dual lead role. The modern Ben and out of place Herschel feel like different people, not just Seth Rogen with and without a beard. Rogen doesn't fall into his stoner bag of tricks at all. This shouldn't be surprising. Rogen has put together a nice list of dramatic roles over the years (Steve Jobs, 50/50, Take This Waltz) that prove he might be in the Adam Sandler camp (oh yeah, Funny People too) of comedy guys who can do drama well but don't always feel the need to. The movie cuts around Rogen playing both parts well. That's not a surprise, really. Films have been doing this for decades, but I'm always impressed how seamless it is.

 

An American Pickle isn't the funniest Seth Rogen movie. It doesn't have as much fun with the premise as you'd think, often resorting to jokes that could be in any movie. There are kernels of great idea in this that aren't explored enough. I'd be a lot lower on this movie if it was one that I had to buy a ticket to see. It wasn't bad, just a little underwhelming.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend