Max: “An American Pickle” with Seth Rogen

In “An American Pickle,” Seth Rogen plays Herschel, a Russian-Jewish immigrant who goes to work, circa 1919, clubbing rats in a Brooklyn pickle factory. In the process, he accidentally falls into a pickle barrel, where he is sealed and brined for 100 years. Found by some neighborhood kids circa 2020, a la Rip van Winkle, the barrel is pried open, Herschel is taken to a local hospital where it’s discovered he has a living family member, his great-grandson Ben (also played by Rogen) a nerdy failed app developer.

The two get along at first until Herschel discovers Ben has neither kept his Jewish faith nor respected the memory of his dead father, which would be Herschel’s grandson. (Follow me so far?) At the cemetery, B and H get arrested when H tries to take down a billboard for vodka which Herschel suspects has been erected by Cossacks. Yes, Cossacks.

The arrest ruins Ben’s chances for success, and H and B become bitter enemies. Herschel vows to make an artisanal pickle business which Ben tries to thwart.

What follows, without giving away much more detail that I already have, is a film that is Rogenesque in the best possible way: funny, vulgar, woke, social media savvy, schmaltzy, sentimental, somewhat religious, outrageous and okay, you asked for it, absolutely charming. If you have one ounce of a Yiddishe kup in you, it is not to be missed. And even if you have less than one ounce (raises hand), see it and enjoy anyway.

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