HBO Max has uploaded the first trailer for An American Pickle. Directed by Brandon Trost and based on Simon Rich’s New Yorker stories, this Seth Rogen-led comedy film will premiere on the freshly-launched streaming platform come August 6th.
In the movie, Rogen plays a middle-aged immigrant who leaves his fictional Eastern European home country to travel to America. In New York, he finds work in a pickle factory where, one day, he accidentally falls into a container. When he emerges a hundred years later, he finds that the brine juice of the pickles has left his body and mind completely intact.
The world, however, has changed dramatically during the time he was away. While his wife is dead, he does have a living great-grandson. This relative, played by Rogen as well, looks a lot more like the actor as we’re used to seeing him and familiar with the ways of modern-day New York City, he tries to teach his ancestor the ropes – something easier said than done.
The premise itself is not exactly original, but the way in which it blends different stories together is pretty unique. The intro of the film, set in Eastern Europe, appears to be inspired by Sacha Baron Cohen’s infamous 2006 effort Borat. Laughs are derived from the ‘backwardness’ of the character’s native culture, and the various ways in which his own traditions clash with modern-day American values.
The second part of the film, though, borrows heavily from the story Rip Van Winkle. An old tale about a settler who falls asleep in the mountains only to find that one hundred years have passed when he awakes, this formula has been adapted hundreds of times over, from Hollywood classics to even an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.
Tell us, though, what do you think of the first trailer for An American Pickle? Let us know in the comments section below.