History Film / AnAmericanPickle

* RuleOfFunny: Suffice to say- No, you can't build a highway overpass across a cemetery, nor put billboard advertising so close it casts shade over grave markers.
* {{Ruritania}}: Herschel's country of origin is called "Schlupsk". It is a fictional country that's clearly meant to evoke Central or Eastern European countries that had lots of shtetls (towns with large Jewish populations) before World War II.

Herschel Greenbaum (Creator/SethRogen) is a struggling Jewish laborer who moves from the East European country of Schlupsk to America in 1919, with dreams of building a better life for his beloved family. One day, while working at his factory job, he falls into a vat of pickles. The factory is then closed. The pickle brine preserves him perfectly and when he emerges in present-day Brooklyn 100 years later, he finds that he hasn't aged a day. But when he seeks out his family, he is horrified to learn that his only surviving relative is his great-grandson, Ben Greenbaum (also played by Rogen), a single and mild-mannered computer programmer whom Herschel can't even begin to understand. Herschel then decides to motivate Ben into doing something in order to save the family.

** In Herschel's original time, he and his fellow villagers are not surprised to be constantly pillaged by rampaging Cossacks.
** At Ellis Island in Herschel's time, the immigration authorities shoo out the Polish and then call on the "dirty Jews" as next in line. Their immigration papers are stuffed in boxes simply marked "Jews."

* IdenticalGrandson: Herschel and his great-grandson Ben are both played by Seth Rogen.

* RuleOfFunny: Suffice to say- No, you can't build a highway overpass across a cemetery, nor put build board advertising so close it casts shade over grave markers.

* AllJewsAreAshkenazi: Justified. Herschel is an Ashkenazi Jew from a fictional {{Ruritania}} country. His surname Greenbaum is Yiddish in origin.

* AllJewsAreAshkenazi: Herschel is an Ashkenazi Jew from a fictional {{Ruritania}} country. His surname Greenbaum is Yiddish in origin.

* AllJewsAreAshkenazi: Herschel is an Ashkenazi Jew from a fictional Ruritania country. His surname Greenbaum is Yiddish in origin.

* FakeShemp: Many scenes with both Herschel and Ben in frame have a body double standing in for one of the characters. The filmmakers had to lean on this trope a bit more than most modern "ActingForTwo" movies because Rogen had to grow a large beard to play Herschel, so they couldn't film scenes back-to-back with Rogen playing both characters.

* FakeShemp: Many scenes with both Herschel and Ben in frame have a body double standing in for one of the characters. The filmmakers had to lean on this trope a bit more than most modern "acting for two" movies because Rogen had to grow a large beard to play Herschel, so they couldn't film scenes back-to-back with Rogen playing both characters.

* {{Homage}}: Herschel going on talk shows, being MistakenForProfound and getting support for a presidential run all seem inspired by ''Film/BeingThere''.

** It sounds close enough to ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', which is also about Eastern European Jewish immigration to America in the late 19th/early 20th century.

It was released on August 6, 2020 on Creator/HBOMax as the latter streaming service's first original film.

* AuthorAppeal: Simon Rich and Seth Rogen are both Jews, and this is a very Jewish film.

* CulturalPosturing: Herschel takes pride in the accomplishments of Jews. He pumps his fist learning that the man who cured polio, Jonas Salk, was Jewish and says he always knew that it was a problem that a Jew could fix.

* FakeShemp: Many scenes with both Herschel and Ben in frame have a body double standing in for the other character. The filmmakers had to lean on this trope a bit more than most modern "acting for two" movies because Rogen had to grow a large beard to play Herschel, so they couldn't film scenes back-to-back with Rogen playing both characters.

* BrutalHonest: Herschel speaks his mind very frankly, to the point that he openly states that Christians are all idiots for believing in the virgin birth of Jesus.

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:In order to further sabotage his great grandfather, Ben convinces Herschel to go on Twitter knowing he will say something controversial and inflammatory. This ends up only being partially effective as many people stand behind him as a free speech advocate. Ben pushes this further by baiting him with a question about Christian prayer in schools, which prompts Herschel to call Christians, idiots. This ends up turning everybody against him and running him out of the country]]

* FakeShemp: Many scenes with both Herschel and Ben in frame have a body double standing in for the other character. Because Rogen had to grow a large beard to play Herschel, the filmmakers couldn't film scenes back-to-back with Rogen playing both characters.

* AllJewsAreAshkenazi: Herschel is an Ashkenazi Jew from a fictional Ruritania country.

* FriendsRentControl: Ben is a freelance mobile software developer, but we never see him doing any paid work. His time seems to be devoted to working on Boop Bop which doesn't pay any money. Despite this Ben has a nice apartment in Brooklyn and can afford small luxuries like an Amazon Echo and a Soda Streamer and has no issue having Hershel move in for free indefinitely. It’s possible though Ben does enough paid work to afford periods where he doesn't have to do any paid work and can work on Boop Bop. Some comments by Ben suggest that Ben does have some money saved up.

* FriendsRentControl: Ben is a freelance mobile software developer, but we never see him doing any paid work. His time seems to be devoted to working on Boop Bop which doesn't pay any money. Despite this Ben has a nice apartment in Brooklyn and can afford small luxuries like an Amazon Echo and a Soda Streamer and has no issue having Hershel move in for free indefinitely. It’s possible though Ben does enough paid work to afford periods where he doesn't have to do any paid work and can work on Boop Bop.

* FriendsRentControl: Ben is a freelance mobile software developer, but we never see him doing any paid work. His time seems to be devoted to working on Boop Bop which doesn't pay any money. Despite this Ben has a nice apartment in Brooklyn and can afford small luxuries like an Amazon Echo and a Soda Streamer. It’s possible though Ben does enough paid work to afford periods where he doesn't have to do any paid work and can work on Boop Bop.

* TheReveal: Herschel discovers what Boop Bop means: [[spoiler:It's his childhood nicknames for his parents]].

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Some incredulous reporters ask how they can be expected to believe such a preposterous situation as Herschel being pickled for 100 years. After a blatant {[handwave}], the reporters state that they are perfectly satisfied with the science. This whole sequence is humorously telling the audience to not worry about it.

* AnImmigrantsTale: Herschel immigrated to experience UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream. Said dream got derailed when he fell into a vat of pickles and basically disappeared for a whole century. Being a FishOutOfTemporalWater doesn't seem to stop him from trying to improve his present-day family's situation, still.

* Foreshadowing: In a home video, Ben admits that he has no name for his company. His parents jokingly suggest "Mom and Dad." In the end, it's revealed that: [[spoiler:Boop Bop was the childhood nickname Ben had given to his parents]].

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Herschel is embraced by the political right for saying horrible things, and it's teased that he'll run for president. Later, Ben says that it's not true ''at all'' that you can't say terrible things and become a great success. Both of these are obviously not-very-covert digs at Donald Trump.