An American Pickle – A Familiar Silly Comedy With Heart (Early Review)

When An American Pickle was announced, it’s understandable to be weary as the premise on paper is definitely one of the oddest in recent memory. Though it should come as a surprise to no one that the film itself is indeed odd, its so called premise is just a means to an end. Albeit, that end is a familiar one but it sure is charming and full of heart whenever it doesn’t try to be more than it is. The film is an easy watch that doesn’t outlive its welcome or run particularly long, clocking in at around the 90 minute mark, and shouldn’t be overly demanding assuming viewers could handle one particular accent. It is a showcase for its star Seth Rogen who plays both lead roles here, however, they are not that much of a stretch for him in that they are similar to many roles he has played in the past which isn’t necessarily a bad thing here.

An American Pickle follows Herschel Greenbaum (Rogen), an immigrant worker from a fictional Eastern European country, move to New York City with his wife Sarah (Snook) to live the American dream. Unfortunately, that dream would be cut short after an accident at a pickle factory left him preserved for 100 years until he woke up in present day Brooklyn. The comedy from that fact alone is fairly obvious and isn’t worth going into in great detail. While it isn’t overly original, it still works for the most part thanks to the charm of Herschel Greenbaum. Meanwhile, some of that comedy also comes from his strong accent (and one that could be contentious for some viewers). However, the main purpose of Herschel was to serve as a plot device in the story of his great-grandson and only living relative, Ben (Rogen), a freelance mobile app developer haunted by his past.

While the trajectory of both Greenbaums over the course of An American Pickle may be rather straightforward but was still somewhat compelling to watch despite feeling slightly rushed in order to fit within its short running time. The film does go a little too far out of its way to establish a contrast between both characters to establish its adversarial angle, admittedly going to some ridiculous lengths in the process (this is where the film would falter slightly). At the end of the day, though Ben Greenbaum was resistant to the inevitable truth he needed to acknowledge to move on, Herschel’s perspective was arguably what he needed whether he wanted to acknowledge it or not. This introspective process and its result was where the film was at its best. However, the rushed nature of the story took away from that impact. It was a shame that we couldn’t spend more time there.

The best part of An American Pickle easily was Rogen’s dual performance as Herschel and Ben Greenbaum. The film featured him playing two roles but those two roles were also the only significant characters to be had. Neither may be a stretch from characters he has played in the past (except for Herschel Greenbaum’s accent), however, Rogen was still solid and compelling to watch playing polar opposite characters on the surface. While it was never going to be that deep of a film, Herschel’s innocence and wonder plays well off of Ben’s normal and more rational (at least in comparison) demeanour. Meanwhile, Snook also delivered a solid performance in limited screen time as Sarah Greenbaum.

Overall, An American Pickle may not join the pantheon of Rogen’s comedic efforts but as it stands, is still a decent an enjoyable watch that fans of Rogen will surely flock to. Otherwise, it is not something worth rushing for.

still courtesy of Warner Media

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.