If you go for the quirky stuff, this film might do it for you. You could call this a modern day Rip Van Winkle story of an East European immigrant in the early 1900's, who falls into a huge barrel of pickle brine and is preserved for a hundred years. With no known descendants except for a great grandson, Herschel Greenbaum embarks on a twenty first century odyssey of coming to grips with a new world while trying to maintain his Old World values. Seth Rogen portrays both the quizzical Herschel Greenbaum and great grandson Ben, and while not uproariously funny, there are humorous and tender moments throughout the story that touch on family relationships and the necessity of moving forward when life throws some roadblocks in your path. For a guy who makes brine pickles by pulling them out of a dumpster with the required amount of salt, along with 'all sorts of animal parts in there', the saga of Herschel's up and down acceptance in Brooklyn and the rest of the country is put to the test time and time again. Never fazed by the technology that has replaced that of the prior century, Herschel maintains a positive and goal oriented attitude that brings him full circle to an understanding of what he had been missing in his early relationship with Ben. This probably isn't a movie everyone would enjoy, but I liked it well enough to offer a mild recommendation if you're looking for something different in your movie fare. I won't spoil it by saying 'hold the pickle'.
Review of An American Pickle
