Unfrosted (2024)

May 16, 2024 12:13 PM

In 1963 Michigan, business rivals Kellogg's and Post compete to create a cake that could change breakfast forever.
posted by The_Vegetables (15 comments total)

This Netflix movie is far better than it deserved to be, and the funniest movie I've seen this year. The star power is also astounding, and every single one gave it their all. I recommend it strongly, even if you don't like Jerry Seinfeld. He's actually ok as (surprise surprise) the straight man, allowing Mellisa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Hugh Grant, and Amy Schumer to carry the load.

It also references so many different other Netflix shows, real events, and other movies that it's fun to watch as an academic exercise.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:20 PM on May 16 [2 favorites]

I thought this was a lot of fun, though Seinfeld both as actor and director were the weak parts for me. There was little imagination about visuals for most of this, so much so that I started cheering when they did show some fun in terms of that (toaster scene!). A very funny (IMHO) John Kennedy line got buried and I would have been pissed if I were Bill Burr. I am not Bill Burr.

Hugh Grant is obviously loving this stage of his career playing a baddie and that makes me happy. Snap, Crackle & Pop were a hoot, omg THE MILKMAN (I'm not going to spoil the casting there)... and Melissa McCarthy doesn't get enough credit for nuance in her performances. I can't believe I'm talking about nuance in the context of this movie.
posted by queensissy at 2:57 PM on May 16 [3 favorites]

Oh, and dumpster diving girl deserves all the accolades. That is a damn funny kid.
posted by queensissy at 3:10 PM on May 16 [5 favorites]

I liked it, I don't understand the extremely negative reviews. I watched it while my wife was away visiting her mother, and when she returned she asked me what it was like. I immediately thought of two ways to describe this movie:

1. This is a $200 million Saturday Night Live skit stretched to two hours.
2. Or, this is an Adam Sandler movie if Adam Sandler thought he was smarter than everyone else and also disliked other humans.

I mean, that sounds harsh. I repeat, I liked it, I laughed. It was good, I recommend it.

And yes, dumpster kids were the only unexpected highlight.
posted by seasparrow at 3:26 PM on May 16 [5 favorites]

I wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. Some of the humour was dumb but a lot of it was somewhat witty, and I agree that everybody was all-in, totally committed. Seinfeld was straight man but he also had some nuance in his delivery that surprised me. The toaster scene was unexpected and pretty good, and the dumpster kids were scene-stealers. To be honest, I could probably watch it again because I know that I missed some stuff.
posted by ashbury at 6:05 PM on May 16 [2 favorites]

2. Or, this is an Adam Sandler movie if Adam Sandler thought he was smarter than everyone else and also disliked other humans.

This so perfectly defines Jerry Seinfeld that I don't think there could be a better way to explain him.

That said, I also mostly liked the movie. I do appreciate a shirtless Hugh Grant. It must have taken him a long time to accept aging out of being a heartthrob, so I'm glad that he seems to be ok with it.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:29 AM on May 17 [4 favorites]

It was a fun little diversion. The references and cameos were enough to keep your attention. I kind of wish they went a little more absurd and over the top - it felt like Seinfeld and Feresten held back a little but I can't figure out where.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:23 AM on May 17 [1 favorite]

(That said, the Sterling Cooper scene was pretty great)
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:57 AM on May 17 [2 favorites]

I liked it, I don't understand the extremely negative reviews.

Seinfeld (pretty blandly, really) opined on a subject the Extremely Online loves to get worked up about during the press tour for the movie, so everyone started with their "review" of the movie and then backfilled negative criticism support their preconceived opinion.

See Also: The TV show "Seinfeld" is now apparently an unpopular show that no one ever watched and had no meaningful impact on television comedy.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 10:27 AM on May 17 [2 favorites]

This thoroughly wacky idea felt like it had potential - an absolutely stellar cast, great design - but it was always almost but not quite funny. I guess some people thought the jokes landed, but they felt like a draft or two away from working.

Seinfeld is a routine comfort re-watch for me, so I'm not anti-Seinfeld. I don't know. Glad people are working.
posted by jeoc at 7:29 PM on May 17 [1 favorite]

Before this movie was ever released, most of the Extremely Online people I know (I just call them 'people') already thought that Seinfeld (the show) was a very privileged white person's cartoon fantasy of urban life that, to put it mildly, has not aged well, and that Seinfeld (the person) was a guy who seemed to be friends with a lot of creeps and assholes and dated a high-school student when he was almost 40.

It was a good, often great show that I still watch from time to time, but, at the same time, Jerry was often the weakest member of the cast, which may partially explain why nothing he's done since has been nearly as popular.

I will probably watch this movie and probably won't hate it, but also Jerry Seinfeld is a billionaire misanthrope who neither wants nor deserves our defenses.
posted by box at 4:10 PM on May 18 [1 favorite]

Oh that was so much fun. I fear that much will be lost on younger folks, but we older GenXers will be reminded of things from our childhood we had long forgotten.

IMO Amy Schumer and Jim Gaffigan are the MVPs of this film, but everyone is wonderful, really.

Do Pop-Tarts even taste good anymore? They certainly did when I was little.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 1:53 PM on May 19 [1 favorite]

I just finished this last night and welp, it was really good! I chuckled and/or laughed quite a bit more than any film I've seen recently. Part of this had to do with the vein of comedy involved, which wobbled around the same level/type of comedy you might expect from 30 Rock, where there's subtle wordplay one moment and then something completely insane the next. Perhaps one of the most incredible things about the film was that the actors from the main stars to the cameos all came in pretty earnest at their task.

I was kind of sad that ravioli monster didn't get bigger as it grew up.

Also, very important, pop tart wrappers are not bullet proof. Geez, that's going to be problematic going forward in the tiktok challenge world.
posted by Atreides at 6:52 AM on May 21

I wasn't planning on watching this, I have never been a fan of Seinfeld and I'm pretty lukewarm on Hollywood vanity comedies in general, but this review from Vera Drew (Of People's Joker fame) on Letterboxd has piqued by interest:

"One of the most perverted films I have ever seen. The Right Stuff parody fair use boomer fetish art. The cinematic equivalent of a sociopath. Sarah Cooper and a Cereal Mascot January 6 sequence. Grandma’s Holes, frooty goopy fetishy marshmallow fluff “what’s the first thing a baby tastes” “applesauce.” “milk.” Watching Jerry lip sync the end credits song by Jimmy Fallon and Meghan Trainor is like staring into Azathoth."

posted by Ashwagandha at 11:25 AM on May 21 [2 favorites]

I enjoyed it. A lot of the humor was not jokes in the usual sense so much as visual gags or situations—an awards banquet for cereal? An award "easiest opening wax bag"? Those are funny and there's a constant stream of that stuff, but it won't make you laugh till your ribs ache, so the…what should we call it…comedic amplitude and frequency are not what we're used to, which makes the whole movie a little hard to evaluate by our normal yardsticks.

Thurl Wainscoting and Dumpster Girl were absolutely highlights. Melissa McCarthy is reliably funny but seemed to be slightly toned down in this, apart from her wardrobe. The number of excellent cast members was amazing, but inevitably that meant that none of them had much time to shine.
posted by adamrice at 8:53 AM on June 25 [1 favorite]