Unfrosted is Jerry Seinfeld’s feature film directorial debut, now showing on Netflix. This rather surreal story of the creation of Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts is possibly the strangest and most ridiculous film I’ll see this year, and not necessarily in a bad way.
The film opens in the 1960s with Kellogg’s exec Bob Cabana (Jerry Seinfeld) in a diner, where he meets a runaway child who stops to eat a Pop-Tart, and Bob takes it upon himself to tell the child the story of how the Pop-Tart came to be.
Kellogg’s are a thriving company in the 60s, thrashing their bitter rivals Post who are based in the same town of Battle Creek, Michigan. Headed by Edsel Kellogg (Jim Gaffigan), Kellogg’s begin to suffer when they discover that Majorie Post (Amy Schumer) and her team have invented a fruit-filled breakfast pastry, something Kellogg’s have never been able to do. In a bid to get to the market before Post, Edsel and Bob employ a crack team of inventors led by scientist Stan (Melissa McCarthy) to find their own solution, including bike inventor Steve Schwinn (Jack McBrayer), ice cream entrepreneur Tom Carvel (Adrian Martinez), Sea Monkeys inventor Harold von Braunhut (Thomas Lennon), Italian brand mascot Chef Boyardee (Bobby Moynihan) and fitness coach Jack Lalanne (James Marsden).
Meanwhile, Thurl Ravenscroft (Hugh Grant), aka the voice of Tony the Tiger, has become disillusioned with his work as a mascot and the lack of gratitude from management. After his ‘theatre’ is taken over by Stan’s lab, Thurl decides to go on strike and attempts to win the other mascots to his cause. And while Kellogg’s faces trouble from their own mascots, they also face threats from the milkmen, including Mike Diamond (Christian Slater), who are part of a shady milk organisation that will do anything to stop the cereal companies from producing a product that doesn’t require milk.
If you think the above synopsis sounds a bit bonkers, then you’d be absolutely right and this pretty much sums up the overall feel of Unfrosted in general. It is undoubtedly the most bizarre film I’ve seen in a long time. It is unashamedly stupid, ridiculous and yet generally sweet and homely too. It’s a strange film as despite the overall stupidity of it, I never thought it was particularly funny. I didn’t once laugh out loud although I did spend the majority of the film feeling quite bemused and not in a bad way. It may be because despite the lack of laughs, the script never felt cringeworthy, in fact, it often seemed quite smart and on the ball even though it wasn’t quite getting the laughs that were expected. I’m not sure how that’s possible but that’s certainly how it came across to me.
This may have been down to the rather stellar cast and large number of cameos. From Christian Slater’s sinister milkman and his boss, played by Peter Dinklage, to James Marsden as the definitely unused fitness coach and Jon Hamm and John Slattery reprising their Mad Men roles, the cameos are certainly a big selling point for this film. They’re all rather bizarre, but then this is probably the most appropriate word to describe the film in general. And Hugh Grant as Tony the Tiger is not something you’re going to see again, and not something you’d forget either.
Unfrosted isn’t brilliant, but neither is it quite the car crash I was expecting. I quite enjoyed the feeling of total bemusement and it was just a shame that the jokes couldn’t live up to the ridiculous nature of the story. This won’t appeal to everyone, but if you don’t mind a bit of bonkers storytelling then this is actually a decent easy watch. The only downside is it’ll probably make you want to eat Pop-Tarts.
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A contract manager moonlighting as a rather discerning film and book critic, with an almost fangirl appreciation for anything made by Christopher Nolan. When I’m not catching up on my latest read or watch, you can usually find me trying out my amateur baking skills – Bake Off here I come!
