Rogen gets into a ‘Pickle’ with his great-grandfather
Seth Rogen has always been a good dramatic actor, despite starring in mostly comedies.
His characters are often funny, hipster doofuses with their hearts in the right place. They also frequently have some growing up to do. He is at his most charming when he plays a thirtysomething still clinging to his high school or college years.
In his latest film, “An American Pickle” on HBO Max, Rogen does double duty as two characters both trying to move on from the past while embracing it at the same time.
Herschel Greenbaum (Rogen) emigrates from a dirt-poor Eastern European country to New York in 1920. He and his wife are just settling in when tragedy strikes. Herschel falls into a vat of brine at the pickle factory where he works and is sealed inside. Jump to a century later when the vat is disturbed, and Herschel pops out good as new. The film wisely sidesteps the science involved.
Herschel finds his great-grandson, Ben (also Rogen). Discussing their family history motivates Herschel to help Ben with the app Ben has been working on for five years. At this point, the audience should be thinking that the two men will work together and comedic situations will ensue. However, writer Simon Rich decided to pit the relatives against each other. Herschel becomes determined to prove that he can become a pickle mogul, while Ben does what he can to see his great-grandfather fail.
The fish-out-of -water jokes mostly land, and the protests over Herschel’s ignorantly bigoted tweets are eerily topical. Rogen is a fine actor and does good work in a dual role. The movie, however, needed more characters. Rogen has to mostly play only off of himself, but he does his best work during interactions with other actors.
Still, it does have some heartwarming moments that make us wish we could have had time to exist side-by-side with our own great-grandparents. Grade: B-
Quarantine TV
“I Know This Much Is True”: Mark Ruffalo is extraordinary as twin brothers in the late 1980s in this HBO miniseries. Domenic struggles with work, the recent death of his mother and the plight of his twin. Thomas has been sliding into worsening mental illness, leading to his commitment to an institution. Gripping stuff.
“Trackers”: The rare Cinemax show. (Yes, it is still around.) Six episodes of suspense wrapped around an anti-terror agency in South Africa tasked with stopping a terror attack on a soccer game. Watch it on Hulu.
Sports: NBA, NHL, MLB – finally.
Jeff Mellinger is a screen writer and film buff. He holds a BA in Film Studies and an MFA in film production. He lives in Concord. Email comments to editor@pioneerpublishers.com.