Unfunny: A First for Jerry Seinfeld
Seinfeld's new movie "Unfrosted" is missing a key ingredient
THIS WEEK:
The toaster jams on Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut
“Where Are They Now?” Cartoon editor Bob Mankoff eats cake
BEHIND THE PAY WALL: “Afterwards she only ate kids’ cereal”
Last week’s post ended with the promise that after Jerry Seinfeld’s new film Unfrosted premiered, we would have a lot to talk about.
As it turns out, we do.
Seinfeld is the favorite sitcom of both Real Buddy and Real Romeo. When Frega and DiPerri met, she had never seen an episode of the series and they remedied that by watching the entire series from the beginning. They watched Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee from the beginning in 2012, back when each new episode posted weekly at Crackle.com. In 2015, they met Jason Alexander outside after watching him perform in Larry David’s Broadway play Fish in the Dark. They saw Jerry Seinfeld’s live stand up in 2017. Historically, we’ve loved all things Jerry Seinfeld.
I (DiPerri) worked at a movie theater in college and, even though I didn’t see Seinfeld’s first big screen endeavor Bee Movie when it came out, I obtained one of the movie posters from the lobby and hung it in my apartment. Twelve years later, when I finally did watch Bee Movie in 2018…I was amused by the premise and frustrated by the execution.
Unfrosted reunites the writing team from Bee Movie, which should have been an early indicator of trouble. Another red flag should have been that the film is a “Netflix Original.” The only Netflix Original that I’ve ever seen of actual quality was The Queen’s Gambit. There’s a lot to be said for the old guard ways of publishing and Hollywood studios and television network executives. At least the gatekeepers vetted material and offered notes to edit scripts and productions. Netflix doesn’t care what they put on their service so long as it’s "content."
Nevertheless, I couldn’t wait for this movie to come out. Upon seeing the trailer, I thought, “This looks amazing! How could the major studios have passed on this?” Well, my excitement turned to dismay on May 3rd when I started reading the reviews…
“Even Hugh Grant can’t save Jerry Seinfeld’s stale Pop Tarts biopic”
Tim Robey, The Telegraph
“Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix Comedy Takes the Art Out of Pop-Tarts”
William Bibbiani, The Wrap
“Jerry Seinfeld's 'Unfrosted' is one of the decade's worst movies”
Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun Times
I was determined to like this movie — whether I liked it or not!
We sat down to watch Unfrosted with my sister and her husband. Frega and my brother-in-law fell asleep immediately due to unrelated circumstances. But my sister and I snickered at early jokes and I forced myself to hold a smile as I awaited the next gag, hoping that the laughter would only build. It didn’t. My smile faded and before long I could’t keep my eyes open either. I awoke to my sister asking if I was falling asleep and was surprised to learn that she was too.
We didn’t like the movie.
There are lot of really clever ideas and entertaining premises. It’s just not funny. Melissa McCarthy and Jim Gaffigan give solid performances and Amy Schumer is clearly having the time of her life in her role. Almost everyone looks like they’re having fun, actually, and making the film was probably a blast.
The surprise double cameo is funny, well-written, and absurd. Seeing Seinfeld on screen with those two characters was easily my favorite part of the movie.
My sister and I got a laugh out of Walter Cronkite accidentally coming up with the name “Pop Tarts” and we loved the name Kellogg’s was going to to use for the product before Cronkite’s Silly Putty discovery.
Tom Carvel was amusing but underutilized and Bobby Moynihan was great as Chef Boyardee.
Me not liking this movie doesn’t make any sense. I appreciate what they were trying to do and what they did. I just didn’t think it was funny! Is it me? Was I too tired? I’ve heard multiple first person reports of falling asleep during Unfrosted (appropriately, I also fell asleep several times while writing this post). I suppose I need to rewatch it and give it another chance. After all, Frega has never seen it…
Unfrosted must be worth revisiting, right? Would the movie’s quality have been better if only Seinfeld and the other writers… “re-read “The Manuscript…?”
You knew that was coming. “Afterwards she only ate kids’ cereal.”
Bring your friends!
DiPerri drew this caricature of legendary cartoonist and cartoon editor (The New Yorker; Esquire; Airmail) Bob Mankoff for his 80th birthday last week! That means he was 10 when Jerry Seinfeld was born; 40 when DiPerri was born; and 70 when Buddy and Romeo were created. “Boy!”
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