Unfrosted

3 outta 5

Unfrosted is a pretty funny movie if one can tolerate juvenile absurdity permeating the entire experience. This isn’t exactly a hard-hitting parody or even close to approaching a “real life” story. In the late seasons of Seinfeld, things took a bit of a turn into the more absurdist and that continues here with the film starring, directed and co-written by Jerry Seinfeld. This movie takes the creation of Pop Tarts and basically makes it like the Space Race of the ‘60s. But then things get even weirder with battling cereal corporations, mob-like milkmen, and culminating in a January 6^th US capitol insurrection style mob by cereal mascots. And talking ravioli. It gets weird and the bevy of celebrity walk on cameos continues throughout the entire film. It is a lot of nonsense but it is pretty fun if one is willing to roll with it.

In the 1960s, cereal giants Kellogg’s and Post are locked in a heated battle for supremacy as the breakfast table. Bob (Seinfeld) works underneath the big boss, Edsel Kellogg (Jim Gaffigan) as they try to overcome their competitor, Post, led by Marjorie (Amy Schumer). There is a lot of spying between the two companies and Bob finds out that Post has stolen their ideas to make a fruit-filled pastry that can be toasted for kids of all ages. So, Bob gathers his former co-worker turned NASA scientist, Donna (Melissa McCarthy) and a team of icons to help him develop the breakfast treat. He also must deal with a sugar supplier from Cuba and a menacing milkman, (Christian Slater) who threatens Bob that making a breakfast food without using milk could lead to dire consequences. And there’s the disgruntled Tony the Tiger mascot actor, Thurl Ravenscroft (Hugh Grant) who wants to make sure breakfast mascot jobs are secure. But it all comes to a head when both companies competing toasted wafers hit the shelves at the same time, leading to the kids of America to decide what is best.

Seinfeld always had references to cereal in his show and act but this takes it to extremes. Honestly, kind of weird is the slow-motion scene showing Kellogg’s employees lovingly pouring and eating cereal in a vaguely fetishized manner. The random references to ’60 culture are fun. When Bob reveals the crackerjack team of guys that will help build the next generation of breakfast food, he shows off folks like Chef Boy Ardee (Bobby Moynihan), fitness guru Jack Lalane (James Marsden), the creator of sea monkeys, Harold von Braunhut (Thomas Lennon) who is probably a Nazi and a supercomputer that prints out predictions of people’s deaths. If one thinks a strange subplot of a gaggle of sea monkeys suddenly getting rolled up into a ravioli and then becoming a sentient new life form is funny, this works.

Seinfeld in this is basically the same character that he played on his TV show where he’s a know-it-all with well-deployed quips at any moment. There’re a few bits where he freaks out loudly which is usually good for a chuckle. When Bob has to borrow some clothes from the White House he ends up with a suit worn by the 300 pound former President Taft and Bob remarks that he found a Baby Ruth chocolate in the pocket, which is kind of a rambling gag, complete with a reference to an obscure former President, that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Seinfeld episode. Also, there’s some decent pop culture and current event references which happened quite a bit on Seinfeld. When Bob and company go to an advertising agency it is literally Jon Hamm and John Slattery playing their characters from Mad Men and they sell some tonally out of place seductive notion of the pastry and Bob remarks why do ad agency men have to be so mean. Also, the finale features a run of angry breakfast mascots storming the Kellogg’s building like January 6^th, complete with the Viking horns hat, which is amusingly jarring for a movie set in the ‘60s.

Gaffigan and Schumer as the competing cereal mavens have also a sort of quasi-romantic relationship going on which leads to a few funny moments between the two, especially when a romantic rendezvous is interrupted by the sentient ravioli. McCarthy makes for a good foil for Seinfeld as she has some funny quips about the craziness. Grant as the actor stuck underneath the sweaty Tony the Tiger outfit has some awesome moments of a self-serious thespian juxtaposed with the goofiness of being in a mascot outfit, and there’s some hilarious bits when he leads the revolution at the end. There are celebrity cameos in almost every scene. Slater is great as the friendly yet scary milkman, and there’s a scene with his boss played by Peter Dinklage where Dinklage brings his standard threatening smart guy persona. And Bill Burr as JFK does a remarkably good and funny impression of JFK where he snaps at them for asking questions because his whole campaign speech was “Ask not!”

Unfrosted goes gleefully and willingly off the rails with absurdity and cartoony logic. Having the creation of the pop tart lead to a NASA launch style disaster is an example of a darkly funny bit. Not all will land but the ones that do are pretty darn funny.