Review: An American Pickle

August 4th 2020, 11:00am

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

PLOT: Herschel Greenbaum (Seth Rogen) is a struggling laborer who immigrates to America in 1919 with dreams of building a better life for his beloved family. One day, while working at his factory job, he 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. But when he seeks out his family, he is troubled to learn that his only surviving relative is his great-grandson, Ben Greenbaum (also played by Rogen), a mild-mannered computer coder whom Herschel can’t even begin to understand.

REVIEW: AN AMERICAN PICKLE is a weird movie. Featuring Seth Rogen in dual roles as a man and his great-grandson coming to terms with their religion and family heritage, it doesn't seem like the type of movie you would release as your first original production on a major new streaming service. A film that probably would not have gotten much exposure had it been released in theaters, AN AMERICAN PICKLE has its heart in the right place with an aspirational story wrapped up in a satirical look at our modern world. While sometimes uneven in tone and pace, it is still an enjoyable comedy with one of Rogen's best performances.

There have been a lot of films to deal with Jewish identity but none that I can think of that feature any characters time traveling via pickle brine. It is this high concept plot device that sets the tone for AN AMERICAN PICKLE. Screenwriter Simon Rich, adapting his own short story "Sell Out", expands on his original man out of time concept which featured some pretty unlikeable characters. Tamping down some of that viciousness, the film explores some of the differences a hundred years can make but anchors this story on Herschel and Ben Greenbaum. Seth Rogen, who has used his heritage for humor in prior films, mines his Jewishness in AN AMERICAN PICKLE more than ever before. Adopting a thick Eastern European accent to play Herschel, Rogen balances the traditional side of Herschel's Judaism with Ben's modern lifestyle which doesn't include a focus on his faith.

Starting in 1919 in the fictional country of Schlupsk. Herschel is a poor ditch-digger whose shovel continually breaks. When he meets his soon-to-be wife Sarah (Sarah Snook), they dream of a life where they own their own grave-plots and drink fancy seltzer water. The humor early in the film centers on these silly little details, something Simon Rich has done to great effect on his FX series Man Seeking Woman and TBS anthology Miracle Workers. But then, the film literally pickles Herschel. When he is resurrected, the satirical humor gets broader. In one scene, a character actually asks for the scientists to explain how a man could survive via pickle brine. When the explanation is muffled by Herschel's voice-over, everyone just nods and accepts it for what it is. This surreal tone disappears once Rogen appears as Ben and the film shifts to a fish-out-of-water tale. Eventually, the relationship between Herschel and Ben becomes antagonistic and the tone changes into a milder take on the rivalry scenes in NEIGHBORS.

With the tone and pace constantly changing, AN AMERICAN PICKLE feels like a series of episodes strung together. These vignettes work as we see Herschel contend with New York hipsters, Yelp reviewers, unpaid interns, and more. Through it all, Rogen plays Herschel as a man who wants to create a family legacy while playing Ben as a man-child adrift without the drive his great-grandfather showcases. The rivalry between the two doesn't always make a lot of sense, but there is an emotional connection between the two men that works because Rogen is playing both roles. Eventually, the story takes aim at cancel culture which is well deserved if not a little on the nose.

First-time solo director Brandon Trost, a cinematographer and frequent collaborator with Rogen and Evan Goldberg, manages the story pretty well. Filming actors in dual roles is always a challenge and for the most part, he is successful here. When Rogen shares the screen with himself, the editing is fairly seamless, but when one of the Greenbaums has their back turned, it is pretty easy to spot that one of the actors is not Seth Rogen. The music by Nami Melumad (with some themes composed by Michael Giacchino) is traditional and complimented by some contemporary songs mixed in.

AN AMERICAN PICKLE is going to be too low-key for some Seth Rogen fans and too bizarre for others. If you are familiar with Simon Rich's other work, you know you are getting yourself into a surreal experience. The problems I had with the movie are that it isn't quite strong enough to be sophisticated and not dumb enough to be a throwaway experience. I liked watching the movie but like an actual pickle, it is something you quickly consume and forget about. If anything, AN AMERICAN PICKLE is worth watching to see Seth Rogen in a performance that is better than anything else he has done on screen before, I just wish the movie around him was as good.

An American Pickle premieres on HBO Max on August 6th.