An American Pickle

Name: An American Pickle
Released: 2020-8-7
Cast: Seth Rogen, Sarah Snook

An American Pickle

PG-13
1h 28m
2020

72%

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Adapted by Simon Rich from his 2013 New Yorker novella Sell Out, An American Pickle stars Seth Rogen as Herschel Greenbaum, 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 learns 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.

Director:

Brandon Trost

Producer:

Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver

Writer:

Simon Rich

Cast:

Seth Rogen, Sarah Snook

Rotten Tomatoes® Score

TOMATOMETER®

72%

Critics Consensus: An American Pickle lacks the tart snap viewers might expect given its creative premise, but Seth Rogen's dual performance makes this a low-key comedy to relish.

Reviews

Next Best Picture

Dan Bayer

The film seems slightly unsure of where it wants to go tonally, but Rogen’s warm, grounded, quiet performance eventually molds the film to its shape, keeping everything in the lightly bittersweet realm of Yiddish comedy.

An interesting tonal stew, An American Pickle gets lost along the way trying to pastiche trends that already feel out of date. However, theres an honestly to its message, and the dual performances of its star.

King of the stoner comedy, Seth Rogen doesn't always hit home runs, but this is one of his gentler, easier- to-like films.

August 27, 2021

FULL REVIEW

Mr. Movie's Film Blog

Travis Johnson

The key to digging An American Pickle, I think, is understanding that it's essentially a modern fable and demands to be read as such.

An American Pickle isn't a bad movie; it goes down easy, with a...runtime that manages to move at a steady clip. One only wishes it had stayed in the brine a bit longer.

June 5, 2021

FULL REVIEW