Forcing us to contemplate—not for the first time—the question of who the entertainment industry’s most beloved and dynamic pickled hero might be, HBO Max has now released the first trailer for An American Pickle, the film where Seth Rogen plays a 1920s European immigrant who falls into a pickle vat and emerges 100 years later, apparently no worse for wear. As previously noted—back when the film was first announced—the good-hearted Rip Van Pickle (actual name: Herschel Greenbaum) then meets his great-grandson, with the pair connecting over their shared family history, and also the fact that they’re both Seth Rogen.
Like a godawful bread and butter slipped into a plate of wonderfully tangy kosher dills, the trailer for An American Pickle is quite a bit sweeter than its extremely goofy premise might have led you to expect. Unlike those platter-ruining abominations, though, it doesn’t appear to go full-on saccharine, instead contrasting Herschel’s can-do comic optimism with deeper questions about faith, family, and death. Also David Bowie, because we have to give it up for the film: A guy who fell in a pickle vat in 1920 and then emerged into American society 100 years later would probably have some difficulty coming to terms with David Bowie.
An American Pickle debuts on HBO Max on August 6.