Seth Rogen gives two of his best performances in ‘American Pickle’

Posted on August 14, 2020

By MARK VIOLA

Last week, in my review of the period drama “Summerland,” I talked about how a certain plot device in that movie really affected my ability to enjoy it.

So, I will admit I was nervous to watch the new HBO Max-exclusive film “An American Pickle,” because the entire premise is based around someone waking up 100 years in the “future,” which is almost always the beginning of a “fish-out-of-water” tale, another one of those plot devices I’m not a big fan of.

Fortunately, “An American Pickle” manages to subvert the usual expectations, or at the very least, present its story in a different-enough way that it still feels fresh, despite being pickled for 100 years.

Also, unlike every other film produced by Seth Rogen (“Long Shot”) up to this point, this movie is rated PG-13 instead of R. Although it still has a lot of the zany humor that we’ve come to expect from his movies, the gross-out humor and raunchiness is toned down considerably. I tend to enjoy Rogen’s R-rated fare, but this was a nice change of pace and allowed the story and characters to take center stage rather than the jokes.

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