An American Pickle Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

Seth Rogen's new fish-out-of-water comedy An American Pickle hits screens both big and small this week, as HBO Max's first original film while also on limited theatrical release in the UK.

The movie's barmy premise sees Polish ditch-digger Herschel Greenbaum (Rogen) accidentally falling into a pickle barrel in 1920, which preserves him until he's unearthed in 2020, whereby he attempts to connect with his great-grandson Ben (also played by Rogen).

Even for the standards of Rogen's off-kilter comedy vehicles, An American Pickle is an especially left-field outing, and one that Sony Pictures was probably smart to offload to HBO earlier this year, given that this thing clearly would've tanked as a wide theatrical release.

But that's not to call the film bad, because it isn't, simply that it lacks the broader, more uproarious appeal of Rogen's typical studio fare, and feels far more at home as a more modest, low-key streaming offering.

Though certainly not one of Rogen's smartest or funniest films to date, An American Pickle is a divertingly weird time, and Rogen absolutely delivers in the dual central role. But first, here's what didn't quite work about the movie...