AN AMERICAN PICKLE : Tuesday 29th September 2020.

'AN AMERICAN PICKLE' which I saw at my local multiplex this week is a PG Rated American comedy drama offering Directed by first timer Brandon Trost, although he was worked as Cinematographer on numerous other Hollywood films including 2009's 'Halloween II', 'Ghost Rider : Spirit of Vengeance', 'This is the End', 'Neighbors', 'The Interview', 'Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse', 'Neighbors 2 : Sorority Rising', 'The Disaster Artist', 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?' and 'Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile'. Based on the 2013 short story 'Sell Out' by Simon Rich, it seems that Seth Rogan (who appears in dual roles and also Co-Produces here) and Rich began discussing the concept for a film back in 2007. Released digitally in the US in early August, and in theatres in the UK shortly thereafter, the film cost US$20M to produce, has so far taken just US$168K, and has received mostly mixed or average Reviews. 

The film opens up in 1919 with a man digging a long road side ditch, with grey skies overhead and looked upon by his horse nonchalantly. At first the wooden handle of the shovel he is using snaps. Then the wooden blade of the shovel breaks in two, leaving the man to get down on his knees and shovel out the wet dirt with his bare hands - such is his commitment to his task. He then returns home to his village of Slupsk where we see him digging another trench along the side of the road, when his eye is caught by a woman attempting to haggle with a market vendor over the price of smoked fish. Instantly we learn that the man, whose name is Herschel Greenbaum (Seth Rogen) is captivated by the fair maiden that in time he asks for her hand in marriage. And so Sarah (Sarah Snook) becomes Mrs. Greenbaum, and on the occasion of their wedding day in front of the gathered citizens of Slupsk, the Russian Cossacks invade the village killing almost everyone in sight and burning down many buildings. Only Herschel and Sarah seem to survive. 

As a result, the pair of struggling Jewish labourers, albeit happily married, decide to emigrate to America. Herschel lands a job at a pickle factory, with the task of killing as many of the rats that infest the property as he can possibly find. One day however, the rats appear to turn on him, and out of fright he falls backwards from on high into a vat of pickles immediately before the factory is condemned and closed down. The vat is sealed with a lid, and all the workers in the factory down tools and exit the premises as it is sealed shut. Before doing so however, Herschel was able to make one of Sarah's dreams come true, and that was that he was able to save up enough money to buy two grave plots at a Jewish cemetery. 

One hundred years later two lads while flying a drone, lose control of it and it flies into the now long abandoned derelict pickling factory. Venturing inside searching for their lost drone, they happen across the vat and lift off the lid. Almost immediately springing to life is Herschel, who has been pickled in brine for the past one hundred years, and as such is perfectly preserved just as the day he fell in. Having undergone a series of tests and attracted much media attention in the process, Herschel learns that Sarah died in 1939, but that he has one sole surviving relative living in Brooklyn - his great grandson Ben (Seth Rogen). 

Ben takes Herschel back to his apartment where he works from home as a freelance app developer and has been developing his own app 'Boop Bop' for the past five years. The app provides a service that checks companies' ethics when buying their products, and Ben is on the cusp of securing funding to take his app to the next level. Ben reluctantly agrees to go with Herschel to the cemetery where Sarah and his son are buried, together with Ben's parents also buried close by. Herschel is disgusted to find that the cemetery was left in complete disrepair and is now located underneath a freeway flyover along with a Russian vanilla vodka billboard overlooking it. This causes him to assault the construction workers putting up the billboard believing them to be Cossacks, which ultimately results in his and Ben's arrest.

Ben bails them out of jail using what little inheritance he has left over from his parents however, the investors he was courting for his app now withdraw their funding due to his new criminal record, causing him to disown Herschel, as that is five years of work down the drain. Herschel storms out of the apartment and decides to begin a pickle business in order to buy and take down the billboard overlooking the cemetery. Herschel's business in no time becomes a big success over social media, aided by his hipster looks and his real unique artisanal pickling and bottling process. 

However, Ben secretly calls the New York health department and tells them that Herschel has been using produce found in grocery store garbage bins, causing him to be forbidden from trading and fined US$12,000. A couple of local supporters, Christian and Kevin (Eliot Glazer and Kalen Allen respectively) tell Herschel that he could utilise the assistance of unpaid interns to pickle, bottle, promote and sell his briny cucumbers resulting in his business becoming even more successful and allowing him to upgrade the cemetery and remove the offensive billboard. Herschel's greater success leads to Ben envying him even more.

Next up Ben then taunts Herschel about Twitter, which Herschel is completely ignorant about, but his curiosity is sparked. And so he begins tweeting controversial statements, which he has his intern Assistant Clara (Molly Evensen) post on his behalf verbatim. While initially met with protests and boycotts, Herschel is quickly regarded as a master of free speech and empowerment. One day while Herschel is hosting a friendly debate, Ben shows up in disguise and using a false tone of voice questions his thoughts on Christianity. This leads Herschel to rant about Christianity, causing the public to turn on him and chase him down the street. His immigration papers also appear lost in time, causing the government to try and deport him.

Herschel breaks into Ben's apartment through the window, and pleads with Ben to get him across the border into Canada. Ben reluctantly agrees. Ten miles from the border with Canada and now on foot traipsing thorough the snow covered woodland, Ben and Herschel begin to reconcile their relationship. Ben comes clean that he deliberately sabotaged Herschel's business on three separate occasions, causing Herschel to admit that he is saddened that Ben is more committed to his app than his family's legacy. This leads to the pair getting into a fist fight. Herschel steals Ben's backpack, and uses his razor to shave and puts on his spare packed clothes to pose as Ben, alerting the police that the real Ben is Herschel. This causes the real Ben's arrest and deportation back to Slupsk.

Taking up residence at Ben's apartment, Herschel one evening is looking through an old photograph album of Ben's when out falls a picture hand drawn by a much younger Ben. On the picture he learns that the app's name, 'Boop Bop', was actually the nickname Ben gave to his late parents, leading Herschel to realise that family was in fact always close to Ben's heart. He returns to his home country to find Ben, who had taken refuge at a local synagogue. They reconcile, and sometime later return to Brooklyn, hoping to develop a pickle-selling website and take their salty pickled cucumber sales worldwide.

I have to say that I was a little surprised by 'An American Pickle' in that my fairly low expectations going in were easily surpassed. The satirical moments right from the opening frames is on point and made me chuckle to myself on numerous occasions. Whilst this film won't go down in history as one of the great comedies of our time, Seth Rogen here more than proves his acting chops in dual roles playing opposite sides of the same Yiddish coin creating two very different characters each with their own distinct idiosyncrasies. The script labours at times in its preposterousness, but is saved by the strong performances, the humour (which at times is far from PC), the sight gags and the questions it asks about the importance of family, their legacy and tradition, and how can we in the present learn from the lessons of the past to shape our future.  

'An American Pickle' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-