American Pickle, An (United States, 2020)
August 14, 2020
Over the years, the “Rip Van Winkle” concept (inspired by
the central conceit of the Washington Irving 1819 short story) has been used by
a number of films. The idea – a person hibernating for a number of years and
waking up to a vastly changed world – is rich enough to have provided the
premise for everything from introspective art films to mainstream comedies. (My
personal favorite is the mostly-forgotten 1999 feature, Blast from the Past,
with Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone.) For American Pickle, Seth
Rogen applies a twist in that he plays not only an early 20th
century Jewish European immigrant, Herschel Greenbaum, but the man’s
great-grandson, Ben.
An American Pickle is pretty much “The Seth Rogen
Show” in that none of the other actors have more than brief appearances. Sarah
Snook, who plays Herschel’s beloved wife, probably has the second-most screen
time and she’s out of the picture before the opening titles. Most of the movie
involves Rogen interacting with Rogen and this is problematic on a number of
levels. First, neither version of Rogen has a good feel for the shifting tone
of the movie. Secondly, without another human to play off, Rogen is frequently
stiff. Or, to put it another way, he has zero chemistry with himself.
The central conceit is dumb but the screenplay wisely makes
fun of its inability to provide a credible explanation for the time travel.
When we first meet Herschel, he’s a ditch digger in the Old World. After
marrying Sarah and avoiding a sacking of their peaceful town by Cossacks, he heads
across the ocean and arrives at Ellis Island. In New York, he gets a job at a
pickle factory as a rat-catcher. One unfortunate day, he loses his balance and
falls into a pickle barrel. When the factory is condemned and ordered closed
moments later, Herschel becomes “pickled” for the next hundred years. When he
awakens to a surprised 2020 world, his entire family has died except for one
descendant, Ben.
Ben, a freelance app developer, is initially delighted to
have a family member to connect with. After all, he and Hershel are the same
age (at least in terms of years lived). But looking alike doesn’t guarantee
compatibility and conflict erupts. The two surviving Greenbaums engage in a war
with Herschel’s actions torpedoing Ben’s ability to sell an app he has been
working for five years and Ben retaliating by attacking Herschel’s start-up
pickle-making venture.
The screenplay, credited to Simon Rich from a short story he
wrote, is tonally all over-the-place. Early on, there’s a real sense of pathos
as the newly-revived Herschel copes with the realization that his beloved wife
has been dead for 80 years, the son he never knew is also gone, and even his
grandson (Ben’s father) has died. For the most part, however, An American
Pickle wants to adopt a lighter tone but many of the attempts at comedy
aren’t funny. And subsequent dramatic episodes feel canned and artificial.
There are some amusing (or at least moderately clever) moments, such as when an
all-too-obvious association between Herschel and the current president ends
with a twist, but the writing (like almost everything else) is maddeningly
inconsistent.
Director Brandon Trost (a longtime cinematographer in his
feature debut) is never able to make the Rogen/Rogen pairing work. From a
special effects’ perspective, everything is smooth. But there’s no life in
their interactions. There’s no passion, no spark, no human emotion. One wonders
whether the movie might have worked better if the filmmakers had cast someone
other than Rogen to play Ben. We know that Rogen is capable of giving strong,
emotionally honest performances but at no point do we see more than a glimmer
of that in An American Pickle. Rogen is in “comedy mode” here but the
material isn’t funny enough for that to work.
Like a bottled Vlassic Dill, this movie offers only an imitation flavor of something more genuine and robust. It’s not without taste but lacks the qualities necessary to do something worthwhile with the Rip Van Winkle premise.
American Pickle, An (United States, 2020)
Cast: Seth Rogen, Sarah Snook, Molly Evensen, Eliot Glazer, Kalen Allen
Screenplay: Simon Rich, based on his short story “Sell Out”
Cinematography: John Guleserian
Music: Nami Melumad, using original themes by Michael Giacchino
U.S. Distributor: Warner Brothers/HBOMax
U.S. Release Date: 2020-08-06
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity)
Genre: Comedy/Fantasy
Subtitles: none
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Glass Castle, The (2017)
- (There are no more worst movies of Sarah Snook)
- (There are no more better movies of Molly Evensen)
- (There are no more worst movies of Molly Evensen)
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