Sometimes it takes someone from outside of a place, time, or culture to properly mock it, and in An American Pickle, the seemingly coddled, privileged lifestyle lived primarily online by 21st century millennials is the subject of the satire, because it's told through the eyes of Herschel Greenbaum, a transplant from 1910s Brooklyn. After Cossacks destroy his tiny Russian home village, Herschel emigrates to America and endures many hardships until he falls into a vat of pickles at the factory where he's meagerly employed on the day it's shut down, thus preserving him in brine for a century.
He wakes up and connects with his only living relative, his great-grandson Ben, who is spinning his wheels after the death of his parents, living off an inheritance, and hopelessly trying to develop an app. They are two characters in extreme comedic conflict, and both are played with nuance, deep sadness, and simmering rage by Seth Rogen. It's easy to forget that Herschel and Ben are the same guy, especially when the two go all out to destroy each other's lives. "The humor may be broad for a fundamentally grounded film," says Sean Collier of Box Office Prophets, "but director Brandon Trost gets a lot of well-timed laughs out of his setups and his star."
