An American Pickle is an American comedy film directed by Brandon Trost (in his directorial debut). It is based upon the 2013 novella Sell Out by Simon Rich, who also wrote the film.
Herschel Greenbaum (Seth Rogen) is a struggling Jewish laborer who moves from the Eastern European country of Schlupsk to America in 1919, with dreams of building a better life for his beloved family. One day, while working at his factory job, he falls into a vat of pickles. The factory is then closed. The pickle brine preserves him perfectly and when he emerges in present-day Brooklyn 100 years later, he finds that he hasn't aged a day. But when he seeks out his family, he is horrified to learn that his only surviving relative is his great-grandson, Ben Greenbaum (also played by Rogen), a single and mild-mannered computer programmer whom Herschel can't even begin to understand. Herschel then decides to motivate Ben into doing something in order to save the family.
It was released on August 6, 2020 on HBO Max as that streaming service's first original film, and saw theatrical release in a limited number of countries. It was then pulled from it in July 2022, but remains available on physical media, digital purchase and Prime Video.
An American Pickle contains the following tropes:
- All Jews Are Ashkenazi: Justified. Herschel is an Ashkenazi Jew from a fictional Ruritania country. His surname Greenbaum is Yiddish in origin, and pretty much all of the Jews who emigrated to the USA in the late 19th century - early 20th century were Ashkenazi.
- American Title: An American Pickle, which is a Pun-Based Title.
- Author Appeal: Simon Rich and Seth Rogen are both Jews, and this is a film that is very much ingrained in Ashkenazi Jewish culture.
- Batman Gambit: In order to further sabotage his great grandfather, Ben convinces Herschel to go on Twitter knowing he will say something controversial and inflammatory. This ends up only being partially effective as many people stand behind him as a free speech advocate. Ben pushes this further by baiting him with a question about Christian prayer in schools, which prompts Herschel to call the Virgin Mary a prostitute and Christians idiots for believing her. This ends up turning everybody against him and running him out of the country.
- Bourgeois Bohemian: Herschel's business takes off because he sells to bobos in Williamsburg who think that his dumpster pickles are artisanal and are willing to pay exorbitant prices for them.
- Brutal Honesty: Herschel speaks his mind very frankly, to the point that he openly states that Christians are all idiots for believing in the virgin birth of Jesus.
- Catchphrase: Herschel is constantly telling people he will "do violence" on them.
- Chemistry Can Do Anything: A scientist explains that Herschel got preserved all these years by pickle brine.
- Cultural Posturing: Herschel takes pride in the accomplishments of Jews. He pumps his fist when he learns that the man who cured polio, Jonas Salk, was Jewish, saying he always knew that it was a problem a Jew could fix.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance:
- Herschel comes from a much more conservative time and is prone to making very insensitive and inflammatory statements.
- In Herschel's original time, he and his fellow villagers are not surprised to be constantly pillaged by rampaging Cossacks.
- At Ellis Island in Herschel's time, the immigration authorities shoo out the Polish and then call on the "dirty Jews" as next in line. Their immigration papers are stuffed in boxes simply marked "Jews".
- The greatest ambitions of Herschel and his wife are to drink seltzer and buy graves, respectively.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Herschel is embraced by the political right for saying horrible things, and it's teased that he'll run for president. Later, Ben says that it's not true at all that saying terrible things will prevent you from having great success. Both of these are obviously not-very-covert digs at Donald Trump.
- Fake Shemp: Many scenes with both Herschel and Ben in frame have a body double standing in for one of the characters. The filmmakers had to lean on this trope a bit more than most modern "Acting for Two" movies because Rogen had to grow a large beard to play Herschel, so they couldn't film scenes back-to-back with Rogen playing both characters.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Herschel is more than a little confused at a world that has changed dramatically in 100 years.
- Foreign Queasine: Sarah bites directly into the head of a raw fish gifted to her by Herschel. That's apparently just how they eat in Schlupsk.
- Foreshadowing: In a home video, Ben admits that he has no name for his company. His parents jokingly suggest "Mom and Dad." In the end, it's revealed that: Boop Bop was the childhood nickname Ben had given to his parents.
- Grave-Marking Scene: Herschel goes to his long dead wife's grave in present-day.
- Handwave: When the scientists explain how the hell Herschel was put into suspended animation by falling into a pickle vat, Herschel's narration cuts in and assures the viewer that the scientists were very convincing and it all made sense.
- Homage:
- Herschel going on talk shows, being Mistaken for Profound and getting support for a presidential run all seem inspired by Being There.
- Rogen confirmed that the title is a subtle nod at An American Tail, which is also about Eastern European Jewish immigration to America in the late 19th/early 20th century.
- Human Popsicle: Herschel gets preserved in a vat of pickle brine for a full century. However, contrary to most examples of the trope, no frost is involved.
- Identical Grandson: Herschel and his great-grandson Ben are both played by Seth Rogen, though it's mitigated since Herschel sports a full beard. That is, until he shaves it off to steal his great-grandson's identity and avoid deportation.
- Idiot Ball: One would think that, growing up in times and places where Jews were oppressed by a Christian majority, that Herschel's life would have depended on not making insulting statements about Christians in public, but he's confident that he's not saying anything controversial by calling the Virgin Mary a lying prostitute. His ignorance just falls under Rule of Funny.
- An Immigrant's Tale: Herschel immigrated to experience The American Dream, which got derailed when he fell into a vat of pickles and basically disappeared for a whole century. Being a Fish out of Temporal Water doesn't seem to stop him from trying to improve his present-day family's situation, still.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Some incredulous reporters ask how they can be expected to believe such a preposterous situation as Herschel being pickled for 100 years. After a blatant handwave, the reporters state that they are perfectly satisfied with the science. This whole sequence is humorously telling the audience to not worry about it.
- Lighter and Softer: Zigzagged. While this is lighter and somewhat even family friendlier than most of Seth Rogen's other comedies that he co-produced (alongside The Green Hornet and The Guilt Trip) for the most part due to only being rated PG-13 and not having the usual constant sex, drugs, and profanity you'd expect from an R-rated Seth Rogen comedy, on the other hand, this film does have more dramatic moments (but still is, for the most part, a comedy) and deals with a rather deep theme you wouldn't expect to see or hear from in a Seth Rogen comedy: troubled family relationships. Heck, it doesn't quite feel like the usual film you'd expect to see Seth Rogen appear in.
- Limited Wardrobe: Herschel always wears the same outfit he was wearing when he was pickled. The one time he swaps it is to wear a disguise.
- Magical Jew: Herschel takes it upon himself to show Ben (who's very much left religion behind, unlike his ancestor) another way than the kind of life he chose.
- Mistaken for Profound: Herschel does an interview and talks about how confused he is about what's going on. Since he's not familiar with television, he literally doesn't understand why he's there or what he's doing. The host, however, interprets his confusion as cogent criticism of the modern political climate.
- Mother Russia Makes You Strong: While Herschel comes from Ruritania, his characterization is lifted from Russian stereotypes. He's strong, hardworking, gruff and uncompromising due to the hardships he faced growing up.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Herschel is amazed by Ben's seltzer water maker, since his greatest desire was to drink a glass of seltzer.
- Narrator: Herschel narrates the first act.
- Never Recycle a Building: The pickle factory where Herschel worked got closed down shortly after he fell into the vat of pickles, but then remains untouched for the next 100 years.
- No Antagonist: Herschel is the protagonist and Ben is the Deuteragonist. The film's plot deals with their quarreling and ultimately growing to become family. They're not opposed by anyone but themselves and each other.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: This happens to Herschel a few times. While on a television show, he states that he has no idea "what is going on," talking about the show he's appearing on, but the host interprets it as a statement about American politics as a whole. Later, he says he wants "the biggest office in America," meaning he wants a very large room to conduct business, but his supporters think he's talking about a presidential run.
- Posthumous Character: Ben's parents (and the rest of his family) have all died by the time Herschel is unpickled.
- Pun-Based Title: An American Pickle can refer to:
- The pickles that Herschel makes.
- Herschel himself after he is pickled.
- The problem between Herschel and Ben, or in fact with America as a whole.
- The Reveal: Herschel discovers what Boop Bop means: It's Ben’s childhood nicknames for his parents.
- Rule of Funny: Suffice to say — No, you can't put billboard advertising so close it casts shade over grave markers.
- Ruritania: Herschel's country of origin is called "Schlupsk". It is a fictional country that's clearly meant to evoke the Western region of Tsarist Russia also known as the "Pale of Settlement", which had lots of shtetls (towns with large Jewish populations).
- The Stinger: Ben and Herschel watch Yentl in a mid-credits sequence.
- Third-Person Person: Due to his sketchy English, Herschel always refers to himself as "Herschel" rather than "I" or "me."
- Time Skip: The film skips 100 years while Herschel is pickled.
