An American Pickle Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs
4. It's Surprisingly Heartfelt
Despite its prevailing absurdity, there is an unexpected sincerity and earnestness to the story, a tale of Jewish prosperity which Rogen clearly has something of a personal stake in.
Both Herschel and Ben are reeling from very real pain throughout the movie - Herschel having lost his family to time and Ben still grieving the untimely deaths of his parents - and though the film doesn't linger on it unnecessarily, it's palpably felt nevertheless.
Beyond mourning their respective losses, it also has something to say about family obligations, and the expectation that one should achieve more than their ancestors.
If it perhaps gets a touch too sentimental in the final stretch, for the most part it strikes an appealingly sweet and heartfelt note, which for a movie about a guy who gets pickled for a century is pretty impressive.