264. An American Pickle; movie review

AN AMERICAN PICKLE
Cert 12A
88 mins
BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong language, discrimination, moderate comic violence

Who knew that a nice little comparison could be made between a time-travelled American immigrant pickler and the current President of the United States?
Well, I had wondered where An American Pickle was going until its main character, Herschel, goes even more Donald Trump than Trump himself.
But the more outrageous his prejudices, the more popular he becomes.
Seth Rogen plays the Eastern European who is literally preserved in a vat of pickles for a century.
When he emerges, his family are all dead except for a great-great-grandson, Ben, a wannabe tech entrepreneur also played by Rogen.
Needless to say that much of Brandon Trost's movie centres on the huge cultural and ethical gap between the man from 100 years ago and the one from today.
This begins innocently enough with Herschel enjoying fizzy water but begins to jar when he discovers that the family burial plot is overshadowed by a giant billboard for vodka.
Proclaiming that it has been erected by hated "Cossacks", he sets about raising the $200,00 required to buy the site.
Simultaneously, he falls out big-time with Ben and then they become enemies as he sets about trying to start a pickle empire.
Where is the link with Donald Trump?
Well, he builds a business which circumvents all regulation and when he becomes a surprise hit, he hits social media and responds to media questions as if he has Tourette's Syndrome.
However, the more he condemns women or slates minorities, the more popular he becomes.
The problem is that the only people who will not see the thick irony are Trump supporters.
I digress.
The juxtaposition of the past and present and the sly political commentary attracted me to An American Pickle - despite me not being a Rogen fan.
I even warmed to his portrayal of the old Eastern European man - brusque and yet somehow lovable. Nope, that really cannot apply to Trump.

Reasons to watch: An amusing take on the Trump debacle
Reasons to avoid: No laugh-out-loud moments

Laughs: Smiles rather than laughs
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? There is a real town named Slupsk in the Pomeranian region of Poland — though there isn’t one called Schlupsk, with that “ch.” In the early 1900s, the real Slupsk was part of Prussia which would become Germany. According to the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Jews of Slupsk lived a fairly peaceful life until the rise of Nazism in Germany.

Share this post