Unfrosted tells the largely fabricated story of the creation of the PopTart, and the feud between cereal giants Keloggs and Post. Director and star of the film, Jerry Seinfeld, wrote the straight to Netflix feature film with his previous Bee Movie co-writers. The film stars countless familiar comedians including Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, Bill Burr, and Hugh Grant.
The movie opens with Jerry Seinfeld recounting the “true story” of the origin of the PopTart, when a kid orders the pastry at a diner. From that point on, Seinfeld fills the movie with constant jokes and recognizable references. The movie, however, felt more like a first draft collection of unpolished short sketches, rather than a fully thought out production. The story was disjointed and I thought that more often than not, the jokes did not land. The references jump around from 1960s nostalgia mentioning GI Joe, the moon landing, and Andy Warhol to randomly recreating the January 6th insurrection with cereal mascots. In between the unceasing joke attempts, I honestly don’t know how they managed to make this movie so boring. I felt like there was never a reason to be interested in what happens next. The characters weren’t developed and the film just felt empty. The movie clearly did not take itself seriously, but there was no redeeming authenticity or likable characters to make the style succeed.
Nevertheless, there were glimpses within this film that made me think it could have had potential. The cast did a nice job for the most part, and some of the comedy centered around seemingly good ideas. The whole movie just felt rushed and underdeveloped.
4/10
