“An immigrant worker at a pickle factory is accidentally preserved for 100 years and wakes up in modern day Brooklyn” – may just be one of the most insane plot descriptions I’ve heard in some time, but what our three lead creatives do in elevating this farcical concept into an allegory for politics in the modern era and a rumination on faith, makes this one of the better comedies I’ve seen this year.
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Although it’s high concept, the film is stirringly simple (not to its detriment I should add). The biggest strengths of the film lie in Seth Rogen’s dual performance as both Herschel and Ben Greenbaum - the rip van winkle of the film and his great-grandson - and the script of Simon Rich which keeps going in directions that you never really see coming. Rogen is excellent as both characters, offering subtle and larger differences between both sides of the same coin. The more nuanced and interesting performance is as Herschel, the lumbering Jeremiah who becomes a pseudo spokesperson for the working man. As Ben, he is similarly enjoyable, more so as the film continues and Ben’s pleasant demeanour swiftly becomes one of Machiavellian malevolence. Rich’s script, adapted from his own short story entitled Sell Out, keeps developing as the film goes on and grows more into a parable than its original cookie cutter "fish out of water" opening would lead us to believe. Although the opening of the film is fun, it does reach a trough when we enter into what we believe will be the rest of the film; the same sort of "fish out of water" film that we have seen over and over again. However, this is exactly when Rich throws us for a loop and the film becomes a battle of wits between the two Greenbaum’s and moreso a generational revenge tale - a great improvement from the beginning. The film’s story, as it continues, enters into deeper explorations of politics and faith and becomes more of a satiric piece, than a farce. All of the ideas that are brought up are greatly interesting, but it almost feels as if they are all rather half-baked and don’t quite reach the depth of exploration that one might wish. All the while propelled by the jaunty and fitting old country score by Michael Giacchino and Nami Melumad, the film goes at a pleasant pace and only feels to drag momentarily near it’s middle and during it’s denouement. The script also pleasantly pokes fun at and rejects its more outlandish plot points, employing cleverly written narration-based tactics to avoid or remove such issues from the audiences mind. All this is done (THANK GOD) without a single lazy and quick fourth wall break. The film is a more than welcome return to clever meta-work, rather than the simple and quite frankly annoying meta-textual comedies that we’ve been loaded with in the past few years. I speak here of Deadpool, Big Mouth and the like, whose observations are so painfully simple and unfunny that they feel like they are more than patronising the audience, it feels like they are belittling them completely.
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The direction of Brandon Troust (cinematographer for many Rogen-Apatow comedies over the years) is a fine effort and never feels stale, but the best facets of the film do lie in its performances and script. The peak of the direction comes at the beginning of the film, with a letter-boxed prologue introducing the life of Herschel prior to his brining. The comedy is very well shot and never sinks into the usual downfall of the Apatow-Rogen comedy brand of extended scenes of improvisation that more than outstay their welcome. I was told by a friend prior to the film that many have felt the film is a little “soft”, and yes, the film has no profanity or nudity, but I felt that the production team made the right choice here, for it would feel out of place in this sort of story. As the film continues it leads you into similar territory as Network and Being There; two seminal pieces of cinema about simple men being dragged into positions far beyond their control following moments of madness/unwarranted genius. Similar to both films, this film has a wonderful supporting cast to it, highlights being Eliot Glazer and Kalen Allen as two Williamsburg artisan loving bourgeois types, and Tim Robinsons in a hilarious courtroom aside gag. But the film is held together brilliantly by Rogen and more than anything the film stands as a worthy testament to his comedic talent and dramatic chops.
A more than enjoyable 7/10. A simultaneously surface-level farce and a deeper rumination on faith and familial dynasty, and although the film never succeeds completely in either field, there is still more than enough to enjoy in both attempts.
P.S. Nowhere near the best of films where people portray twins (or family). I’d have to say the reigning winner is still Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers. Although, if we’re just talking two versions portrayed by the same person, then Jeff Daniels does a very close second in The Purple Rose of Cairo.
- -Thomas Carruthers
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