Unfrosted

Even though Unfrosted has its moments,  this cereal comedy from Jerry Seinfeld lacks one necessary ingredient: substance.




Jerry Seinfeld has reached the point in his career he can do whatever he likes. I remember the time i spent whole weekends watching Seinfeld reruns and loving every moment of it.

After that there was the succesfull animated Bee Movie (2007) and I seem to remember that (between 2016 and 2019) Jerry also drank a lot of coffee in cars with other comedians. 

A great way to spend your time, I’m sure, but making movies in this day and age - after a pandemic and the rise of the streamers - is something else entirely. Unfrosted is the kind of comedy that wouldn’t stand a chance in theaters these days, so it's probably a good thing it's on Netflix.

It tells the (more or less) true tale of the War between Kellogg’s and Post for the dominance in breakfast foods in the first half of the 1960's and the invention of the Pop-tarts. 



Pop-tarts were never that big a deal in Europe as they were in the US, but I get it: this is basically a sports competition between two very powerful companies, with some also rans like Quaker (whose products i actually preferred) thrown in for good measure.

It's all written from a 2024 perspective, with lots of phrases like 'we are in the sixties now so we have to make the most of it', or words to that effect, which is fitting for a movie that wants to wink-wink and nudge-nudge at you far more than necessary.

Having said that, the collectieve amount of comedy talent present - Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, Hugh Grant and of course Jerry Seinfeld himself- leads to some funny moments, but it's not quite enough to save the movie.

Of Seinfeld it was said it was the best comedy ‘about nothing’ ever made but to my mind it also looked at friendship from every possible angle, starring four multi layered characters, played by four highly idiosyncratic individuals, and that's what gave it it's true value. It also had Larry David, 

Directed by Jerry Seinfeld himself, Unfrosted is a polished production, played by professionals probably having a fine time of it, but it all feels a little bit too inconsequential to offer the sustenance we need.











Reacties

Een reactie posten

Populaire posts van deze blog

Poor Things

Afbeelding
  Yorghos Lanthimos is one of the most interesting directors working today. His latest movie, the widely acclaimed Poor Things, is a steampunk science fiction fantasy, spearheaded by a fearless performance by Emma Stone. Nominated for eleven Oscars, Poor Things is a critical darling that by the end of its theatrical run will probably have a worldwide gross of over 100 million dollars, showing sceptics that its possible for artistic risk takers to have it all. The movie, adapted by Tim McNamara, from the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray, starts out in an alternative version of Victorian London. Emma Stone plays Bella Baxter, a suicidal young woman, who is brought back to life by her own Dr. Frankenstein. He is called Godwin Baxter (the great Willem Dafoe), so Bella appropriately refers to him as God.  As Bella grows up from a mental infant to a somewhat more mature young woman, she is befriended first by Godwin’s assistant Max ( Ramy Youssef), who wants to marry her, then by Godwin’...
Meer lezen

Challengers

Afbeelding
  Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers is both a thrilling romantic comedy and a highly appealing sports drama, anchored by a star turn by Zendaya, that confirms her status as a bonafide modern day movie star. The two-time Emmy winner (both times for Euphoria), who also starred in various Spider-man and Dune movies, plays a tennis prodigy called Tashi Donaldson, whose career is dramatically cut short by a cruel knee injury.  Because, as she admits herself, her only talent is hitting a ball, she becomes the coach of her husband Art (Mike Faust), who goes on to win six grand slam titles, and who only needs to win the US Open to complete his career slam. Unfortunately, his form deserts him and Tashi advises him to compete in the lowly New Rochelle challenger tournament to get his confidence back. It’s there however, that he has to face, both on and off court, his former best friend Patrick (Josh O’Connor), a former Junior Open winner but now a down on his luck tennis pro, who also share...
Meer lezen

Civil War

Afbeelding
Alex Garland’s ‘near fiction’ action epic Civil War  ventures deep into the heart of American darkness. It tells the story of a group of semi-embedded journalists from New York to Washington D.C. to capture one last interview with the President of the United States before he himself may be captured by the Western Forces of Texas and California whose revolution is gaining momentum. That’s basically all you need to know about the plot. And besides, Garland doesn’t tell us much more. Civil War takes place in a future America where words like ‘Democrats’ or ‘Republicans’ seem to have lost all meaning. Or as one soldier puts it halfway through the movie: ‘There are some guys out there trying to kill us. And we are trying to kill them.’ Even though the movie is full of violent war scenes, Garland mainly focuses on our little group of four protagonists: Kirsten Dunst plays Lee Smith, a very experienced war photographer, who has seen it all and is nearing the end of her tether. She works f...
Meer lezen