An American Pickle

Imagine for a moment, if you will, that one day the hospital calls and tells you to come pick up your great-grandfather. The one that’s been dead for a hundred years. Yeah, that one. Herschel. It’s a Rip Van Winkle/Encino Man kind of thing. Just trust that the science is sound and poor Herschel’s been perfectly preserved in pickle juice this whole time, and has just now awoken. Enter his only living relative, Ben, who gamely picks him up and introduces him to 2020. The movie never pauses over the fact that Ben asks no questions, makes no deliberations, just makes room in his life and his home for a complete stranger who looks nearly identical to him, is his same exact age, but is from another time and place.

Herschel has a deep-rooted fear of Cossacks and his highest aspiration is to one day try seltzer water. Ben is an insecure app developer who just happens to own a soda stream. Both men are played by Seth Rogen. This is very much the Seth Rogen show. All of Herschel’s friends are dead, and Ben appears to be a loner. It’s double Seth and little else. Not that that’s a bad thing. In fact, it gives Rogen a chance to flex. When both characters are on screen, you can appreciate how fully he has created two separate and distinct portraits. It’s kind of impressive, actually.

The story uses the dual perspectives to weigh values like religion, duty, family, and legacy. Herschel has the can-do work ethic that, as an immigrant in search of a better life for his family, helps him pursue the American dream. Ben, Brooklyn born and bred, has lost touch with his roots and is apathetic toward his religion and ethnicity. Sometimes we marvel that our ancestors were bold enough to relocate to foreign lands, leaving behind family, familiarity, culture, language, memories and possessions, with no guarantee that anything would ever be better. And sometimes we wonder if those ancestors who risked life traveling over rough seas and blazed actual paths through unyielding lands did it so that we could stay in bed all day binge-watching Bravo. This is probably not the future they envisioned when they risked it all. But while you and I may have a vague feeling that the past would be disappointed by the present, Ben is confronted with that feeling very, very viscerally. His name is Herschel, and he gives zero fucks.

10 thoughts on “An American Pickle

  1. Anonymole

    > And sometimes we wonder if those ancestors who risked life traveling over rough seas and blazed actual paths through unyielding lands did it so that we could stay in bed all day binge-watching Bravo.

    Yeah, that. Kinda makes you wonder about life 100 years from today. (Like humanity will actually be around then…)

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  2. Invisibly Me

    I’ve come across this mentioned here and there, but I had no idea what to expect from it. I was going for the surprise approach when I watch this. I used to like Rogen. Then there was Sausage Party and, well, I don’t want to get my hopes up again! xx

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  3. Liz A.

    Okay, so he immigrated, had children (presumably, since he has a great-grandson), and then abandoned them to preserve himself in pickle juice? I’m having a bit of a disconnect. . .

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. rdfranciswriter

    Thanks for this! I kept seeing this on the IMDb splash page, and just never dug deeper to learn more. I just watched Rogan (again) in The Disaster Artist a couple nights ago and, while a smaller support role, he’s pure pisser in it.

    Liked by 1 person

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