#Unfrosted review

[agentnico]

Unfrosted (2024) review

This film gave me Movie 43 vibes. Believe me that is not a good comparison to have.

Plot: Michigan, 1963. Kellogg's and Post, sworn cereal rivals, race to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast forever. A tale of ambition, betrayal, sugar, and menacing milkmen.

Hollywood has recently been really into telling backstories of famous commercial products, from BlackBerry’s to the legal battle behind the Tetris game, to Air Jordans. That’s right, we had a movie about Nike shoes - actually wasn’t a bad movie but seems strange thinking I spent two hours of my life learning about a shoe creation. Arguably the best of these recent product movies was The Founder, that told the story of McDonalds and how it was bastardized by Ray Crock (played by an energetic Michael Keaton), who transformed it into the soulless conglomerate it is today. I wouldn't call it a glowing endorsement of the modern day restaurant, but it really made for a solid and engaging cinematic narrative. Now cometh Netflix’s Unfrosted, a tale of how the popular Pop-Tart snack came to be, however here’s the catch - it’s made by Jerry Seinfeld.

As such, rather than being a cohesive unravelling of real life events, this primarily is a comedy. So much so that the story itself is so thin, and instead Seinfeld takes us from one skit to the other in hopes of getting a chuckle or two. Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it, this movie ain’t worth eating for breakfast. It feels like a bunch of poor Saturday Night Live jokes thrown together, with 90% of it being unfunny. It’s a shame really as everyone involved seems to be having a wonderful time, but it doesn’t translate well as a whole package.

The one moment I actually got a kick out of was the Mad Men reunion. It was a totally unexpected cameo, and though I found it amusing, I’m very aware it’s going to piss of die-hard fans of the show, who may accuse this to be a cheap nostalgia gimmick that disrespects the show’s legacy. But honestly, I’ve seen a couple of seasons of Mad Men myself, and though it’s a very well written piece of TV drama, Jon Hamm’s character is not so sacred that it can’t be used in comedy. And yes his and John Slattery’s appearance in Unfrosted was absolutely out of left-field, but this random surprise really got me. It was silly yet at the same time utterly delightful.

What’s really crazy is how many famous faces agreed to be in this movie. A lot of the comedians have walked in straight from SNL, so their presence makes sense, and Melissa McCarthy, well, it’s Melissa McCarthy. Sort of expect this from her by now. However there are some genuinely talented people here from the likes of Christian Slater to Dean Norris to Hugh Grant, which makes you wonder what Seinfeld had on them to get them to agree to be in this. Must say though I did get slight entertainment from noticing every time another famous face showed up.

Overall Unfrosted is a mess. There’s high Cat in the Hat level colourful energy to its stupidity, with so much randomness thrown at you, but in no way is this a good movie. Can hardly even call it a movie to be honest. Then again after experiencing Jerry Seinfeld’s beestiality in Bee Movie don’t really know what else I expected.

Overall score: 2/10

[afabstract]

Unfrosted Review - Nutty & Loaded With Inane References

Jerry Seinfeld & Melissa McCarthy play food executives out to change the way America eats breakfast in the goofy, absurd comedy "Unfrosted".

⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3 out of 5. Follow us on Twitter | Instagram Director: Jerry Seinfeld Writers: Jerry Seinfeld, Spike Feresten, Andy Robin Set in 1960s America, “Unfrosted” is a satirical parody about the rivalry between food giants Kellogg’s and Post as they vie to create a snack that could revolutionize breakfast habits across the country. Jerry Seinfeld stars as Kellogg’s executive Bob Cabana,…

[rickchung]

Unfrosted (dir. Jerry Seinfeld).

Netflix's wildly surreal business parody of the revolutionary invention of Pop-Tarts toaster pastries amidst the bitter Kellog's vs. Post Cereals rivalry in 1963 Battle Creek, Michigan is among the silliest period comedies with an all-star cast ever conceived. The whole thing feels like a stretched-out comedy sketch with top-notch production design aimed at mid-century boomer nostalgia for Cold War tensions culminating in the technological advancement from the space race but with breakfast snacks instead.

[mxdwn]

Netflix’s ‘Unfrosted’ Opens To Mixed Reviews Across The Country

https://movies.mxdwn.com/news/netflixs-unfrosted-opens-to-mixed-reviews-across-the-country/

[streamingmovienight]

Unfrosted

"One day, Grandma Kellogg while making pies for her family, found she had some extra crust and filling. So, she put them together into little tarts. They were so popular she called it...…..THE POP TART!" NOT recommended. Two thumbs down!

2024    Netflix Rated:  PG-13 Length:  1 hr  33min Biography  History  Comedy Directed By:  Jerry Seinfeld Starring:  Jerry Seinfeld, Christian Slater, Jim Gaffigan, Hugh Grant, Melissa McCarthy, and too many more to list. “One day, Grandma Kellogg while making pies for her family, found she had some extra crust and filling. So, she put them together into little tarts. They were so popular she…

[thejewofkansas]

The Weekly Gravy #190

Unfrosted (2024) – ** I’d heard enough outright condemnation of Unfrosted to pique my curiosity; most of the films I’ve seen so far this year have been good or great, and one needs the occasional piece of crap for balance. But Unfrosted wasn’t so much bad as pervasively weak. Take the scene where Edsel Kellogg (Jim Gaffigan) warns our heroes about crossing the dairy industry, lest they end up on…

[capsarcastica]

Unfrosted Review

Jerry Seinfeld makes his film directing debut with a hilarious movie in the vein of Airplane! and Monty Python.

The plot is nonsensical, more a series of gags that all work. The group of scientists who have nothing to do with breakfast food, the Scarface-inspired sugar dealers, the Milk Man Mafia, the Cold War, the sentient pasta, the January 6th-inspired attack on Kellogg's. It shouldn't work but somehow it all comes together. Seinfeld is able to combine the off-the-wall humor of his sitcom and the zany antics of a classic Mel Brooks movie, almost like a better episode of Family Guy.

The entire cast is great. Everyone's trying to steal the spotlight so the energy is always there. The standouts are Jerry Seinfeld and Hugh Grant. Seinfeld has done so few fictional characters it's almost a surprise he does so well against more seasoned actors like Bill Burr's JFK. Grant channels Alan Rickman's Galaxy Quest character in a Death to Smoochy style subplot. There's a ton of fun cameos. The best is in the style of John Hurt's Spaceballs cameo.

The set design is also a lot of fun. Not quite as extreme as Barbie but definitely cartoonish.

It's nice to see an unserious comedy just have fun in the weirdest way possible. It's the kind of film to just sit back and enjoy.

[oneofusnet]

Screener Squad: Unfrosted UNFROSTED MOVIE REVIEW Jerry Seinfeld presents Unfrosted, his feature length directorial debut that offers a fictionalized account of 1963 Michigan business rivals Kellogg’s and Post competing to create a crusted fruit pastry that could change breakfast forever. This is the origin of the Pop Tart. Told as though it were as important and as dramatic as the space race, this absurdist comedy features dozens of cameos from Seinfeld’s comedic friends, several of his vintage cars, and even several true facts about the legendary breakfast tart. Kimberly, Mike, and T.C. discuss their cereal allegiances, appreciation for Jerry’s comedic sensibilities, and his… Read More »Screener Squad: Unfrosted read more on One of Us

[sssm68]

[tinyreviews]

Tiny Review: Unfrosted 2024. A worse Bee Movie...

This has Bee Movie vibes... in the same bad way. I wonder how and why was this even made. This is a movie in recent memory where I couldn’t wait for it to end quickly.

Unfrosted is a 2024 American comedy film directed by Jerry Seinfeld (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay he co-wrote. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Max Greenfield, Hugh Grant, and Amy Schumer.

[hollywoodhandle]

‘Unfrosted’ Review: Seinfeld Surprises On His Funny And Enjoyable Directorial Debut

I feel like from all of the films I’ve seen this year, most of them were disappointments, films where I had really high expectation and they ended up not being half as good as I wanted it to be. Unfrosted fits the opposite side, it’s a film that I had 0 expectations for and it ended up being such a pleasant surprise. After how terrible Pain Hustlers was, I don’t know what to expect from another…

[greensparty]

Stuff I'm Looking Forward To in May

How is it already May? In addition to being Asian Pacific American Heritage Month as well as Orthodox Easter (5/5), Cinco de Mayo (5/5), Mother's Day (5/12) and Memorial Day (5/27) here is what's on my radar this month:

Movies:

The Idea of You

A Michael Showalter movie is always a highly anticipated for me. I was a huge fan of his comedy group The State and I named his film The Big Sick my #1 Movie of 2017. Since then his films have been mixed (including The Eyes of Tammy Faye) but they are always unique in their own way. His new one is a romantic drama with Anne Hathaway premiering on Amazon Prime Video on 5/2.

Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace

When the first Star Wars prequel was released in May 1999, there was no way any movie could live up to the expectation. While it's not perfect by any means, it is better than people initially thought. I saw it a few times in the theater in 1999 (including opening day) and in 2012, I saw the 3-D re-release. Without the hype and fanfare it wasn't bad. There's been quite a few revisionist appraisals of Ep 1 in recent years. In addition to select theaters doing a Star Wars Eps 1-9 marathon, Ep 1 is getting a 25th anniversary re-release on 5/3.

Unfrosted

Jerry Seinfeld is a comic genius! Now he's making his directorial feature film debut with a comedy biopic about the creation of the Pop Tart in 1963. With Jerry directing, co-writing, producing and starring I'm on board! Premieres 5/3 on Netflix.

Let It Be

The 1970 documentary about The Beatles recording their final album has been out of print for years and now it has been remastered by Peter Jackson for a Disney+ streaming premiere on 5/8. Fingers crossed a blu-ray follows!

Back to Black 

Amy Winehouse had such a short musical career, but her legacy lives on. After the excellent documentary Amy in 2015, she is now getting the music biopic treatment directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, the director of the criminally underrated Nowhere Boy about the early days of John Lennon. Opens 5/17.

IF

John Krasinski proved himself as a director with A Quiet Place. Now he is back with a fantasy about imaginary friends and it's one of those "everyone is in it" casts! Opens 5/17.

Hit Man

A Richard Linklater film is always a high film priority for me! His new action-comedy has been creating quite a buzz since its festival premiere last year. It's adapted from an article by Skip Hollandsworth and the last adaptation of his from Linklater was Bernie! Star and co-writer Glen Powell has worked with Linklater on Everybody Wants Some!! and Apollo 10 1/2. I could not be more psyched! Limited theatrical release on 5/24 and Netflix premiere on 6/7.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, the 4th Mad Max movie, set the bar pretty high for high octane action. Now George Miller is back with a prequel about Furiosa. Opens 5/24.

Music:

Aerosmith Get Your Wings 50th Anniversary Limited Edition

In March, Aerosmith's second album turned 50! To celebrate the anniversary they are releasing a special edition vinyl on 5/17!

Slash Orgy of the Damned

GN'R guitarist Slash is back with his sixth solo album featuring tons of guest stars including Brian Johnson and Steven Tyler doing blues covers. Album drops 5/17!

Ringo Starr Crooked Boy

Sir Ringo Starr has been on a roll knocking out tons of EPs including EP3 and Rewind Forward. Now he has his 5th EP since 2021 (my God - put all of these EPs together and it'd be a killer album!). This one was written and produced by Linda Perry. After an RSD and digital release last month, a physical release will be on 5/31 (review to come)!

Film Festivals:

Independent Film Festival Boston

My favorite film festival in Boston (and possibly the world) takes place at the best indie cinemas in Boston from May 1-8 (see my preview here).

In a category all its own:

My birthday is on 5/20! 

[infamousbrad]

Brad's Food Pellets: the HDR?

Statement of the Problem: C-PTSD and Orthorexia

Most Recent Experiment: Military-surplus Humanitarian Daily Ration packets?

I have recurring bouts of pervasive anhedonia, probably related to C-PTSD and definitely made worse by the texture sensitivity of my autism-spectrum disorder. One of the major impacts of this on my life is that I have severe difficulty staying fed: I have days, sometimes multiple in a row, where the thought of eating anything makes me gag. Eventually, when I'm on the point of collapse, I'll choke down some of the fattiest, most sugar-sweetened food there is just to keep from getting falling over or passing out, if that's all I can stomach. But that ends up making things worse, because it's not satisfying and it's even more depressing.

This has been made worse in recent years by seemingly non-stop pressure to lose weight, despite the absence of any scientifically demonstrable way for me to do so. In the last year or so, this has manifested as what I recognize to be the symptoms of orthorexia, food-avoidant behavior driven not by desire to get thin but by fear of "eating something that's wrong."

One way that I've been trying to manage this is by experimenting with what one of my closest friends calls "Brad's food pellets." These are food solutions that are as nutritious as I can make them while meeting several criteria: high shelf stability, low price, and perhaps most importantly, lowest possible prep time, cooking time, and cleanup time. If food's going to be gross no matter what I do, I need to at least get it over with quickly.

I found out via a Reddit blog post that there is a now 20+ year old collaboration between the big-three military-ration companies, at least three US government agencies, and at least two big disaster relief charities to continuously improve something called the Humanitarian Daily Ration: a salmon-pink nigh-indestructible self-padded heavy Tyvek envelope containing 2200 calories' worth of vegetarian, kosher, halal, nutritious, varied food that can, if necessary, be eaten with no additional preparation, for a maximum of $5 per day.

The collaboration hasn't settled on "good enough" and based on user feedback, they've revised the menu at least three times that I can find evidence of, not counting the one that's in progress right now. Because there's a new 2023 formulation (more infant-friendly food in every packet, substitution of sesame for peanuts), huge stocks of the 2011?-2022 formulation are being dumped onto the military surplus market right now. The State Department, the Army, FEMA, the Red Cross, and the UN High Council for Refugees are rushing to stock up on the 2023 formulation as fast as the big-three "MRE" companies can make them.

So it's trivially easy, if you search online, to find multiple vendors offering to ship a crate of ten 2022-model HDRs for $50 or less, including shipping, even though they're explicitly not intended for general civilian use. I decided to see if these would make acceptable "food pellets" and ordered what turned out to be "menu B," the one that primarily comes from the vendor Sopakco. Which crate you get is deliberately random, they're not labeled on the outside, and online reviews suggest that "crate B" is the worst of the three, so this makes a good worst-case experiment. It came with:

10 packets of unfrosted brown sugar Pop-Tarts, two per packet

10 peanut butter packets and 10 strawberry jam packets (bread not included)

16 packets of ultra-concentrated mildly-spicy tomato soup in three different flavors: lentils with rice, black eyed peas with rice, and lentils with potatoes and mixed vegetables (or as I said after adding the red and black pepper, "three different flavors of vegetarian chili")

4 packets of ultra-concentrated mild yellow curry with rice & lentils

10 packets of large saltine crackers flavored with powdered mixed vegetables, two per packet

10 large shortbread cookies

10 large cinnamon-oatmeal cookies

20 ingredient lists printed on heavy card-stock, and

10 "accessory" packs, each of which contains one plastic spoon, one napkin, one wet-wipe, one salt packet, one ground black pepper packet, one large red-pepper flake packet, two sugar packets, and a pack of paper safety matches.

Yes, the breakfast and both deserts are identical every day and, frankly, not great. The cookies and the Pop-Tarts are astonishingly dry and crumbly for the crate still having more than two years left on its "best used by" date. The Pop-Tarts and the shortbread cookie are also awfully bland for something that's going to be eaten every day. (Which is why they've been replaced for 2023 with tastier options.) At least the cinnamon-oatmeal cookie, dry and crumbly as it is, is very flavorful.

Each daily packet includes two of the concentrated-soup entrees, with a predictable rotation, but guaranteed not to be the same two days in a row. I can reconstitute one in a small saucepan, with half a packet or so of water, on an induction cooking plate in not much more than a minute, and once I crumble in one of the two daily crackers, it's an astonishingly tasty meal, enough that it cuts through both of my food-aversion issues, with zero cognitive/emotional load on me -- just grab one of the two that the packet chose for me.

2200 calories a day turn out to not be enough to satisfy me on some days, but I have previous "food pellet" experiments that I can pad out a menu with. I can write those experiments up, if there's any interest in the reblogs or comments?

But for now, I think I have, if not a solution, a reasonably well-tolerated treatment. As long as they're available on the military-surplus market, I'm going to re-order a crate every time I drop below four packets left. And, specifically:

On any day where it takes me longer than two hours to persuade myself to eat something, anything, for breakfast, it means I'm having one of "those" days, so I'm going to open another HDR packet and eat whatever it gives me.

[filmsnobreviews]

Review: Unfrosted

Title: Unfrosted MPA Rating: PG-13 Director: Jerry Seinfeld Starring: Jerry Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins Continue reading Review: Unfrosted

[lukeevansgirl22]

Unfrosted is weird but funny!

Hey guys! I’m here to do a review for the movie “Unfrosted!” I loved this movie, but it was kind of weird but also funny! If you have noticed anything different with quite a few of my posts, I have added a trailer or some video about the review for the ones that I couldn’t get a picture to show up. I somehow got the idea yesterday that if a picture doesn’t show up for a review, I’ll find either a…