Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Seth Rogan, Sarah Snook, Eliot Glazer, Kalen Allen, Kevin O’ Rourke, Sean Whalen, Geoffrey Cantor, Carol Leifer, Jorme Taccone, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Alyse Zwick, Dalon Huntington, J Michael Grey, Efka Kvaracieius, Darryl Bailey Smith II, Dino Rende, Peter Kybart, Joanna Adler, Herb Mendelsohn, Norm Golden, Al Nazemian, Adam Dunhoff, Mark Doamond, Leib Cohen, Liz Cackowski, Tim Robinson, Betsy Sodaro, Quinta Brunson, Kurt Braunohler, Michael Weaver, David Flick, Raymond Neil Hernandez, John Walpole, Ian Poake.

Tradition can be seen as peer pressure from the long since departed, for why else are we compelled to keep certain rituals and expectations alive, when what we really desire is to be acknowledged for our own existence, for our own ideas and pleasures, rather than forever being forced into thinking that our ancestors would rage or turn our back on us for being different. It matters not if it is belief, practise or just out of habit, the product of continuing an institution just because your forebearers did the same thing is arguably unhealthy, perhaps even toxic on the soul.

An American Pickle will arguably not be seen as the most convoluted plot to ever to be placed before an audience, nor will it grace the memory of those who seek an abundance of thrills, spills or adventure, but to the purist perhaps, the ones who see a story as an extension and companion to the human experience, it is one that is filled with confidence, of the basic principles of cinema and trust; in short it is a tale which asks the questions on how we would look to our great children when they are thirty and we have long since left their everyday thought, and how we might despair at the choices they have made, and all because they didn’t match our own. 

Seth Rogan’s twin performance as both Hershal and Ben Greenbaum plays a huge part in the likeability of the film, and for an actor that often divides opinion in his roles, the cinematic pictures he is associated with, the pleasure of seeing him act with duty to the role, in the same giving gesture he did as Steve Wozniak in the incredible film, Steve Jobs, is to understand the presence of the man at his very best, insightful, shrewd, politically discerning, and aware if the responsibility he has to the acting craft.

In An American Pickle he brings to the attention of the viewer the tricky subject of tradition, of how we look to extend our own goals and hopes for a better future for our children, and for the generations to come, by insisting they continue to adhere to a core set of values and commandments made up from your experience. It is this direct, but homely, confrontation between pickle preserved Hershal and his Great Grandson Ben, that the differences between the generations can be witnessed, but also the fundamental driving force that binds them, of honouring your parents and family name is observed and upheld.

The film is sympathetic at all times to the idea of how the generational divide can be a gift, that what we learn is not always inherited, but the value we place our name is, and it for that, and Seth Rogan’s performance, that sees An American Pickle live up to standards envisaged for it in its inception.

Ian D. Hall