Jerry Seinfeld’s Pop-Tarts Movie ‘Unfrosted’ Is as Bad as You’d Expect
John P. Johnson / Netflix No Pop-Tarts-related media will ever top the conclusion to last December’s Pop-Tarts Bowl, which ended with a human Pop-Tart mascot committing suicide by lowering himself into a giant on-field toaster (while holding a sign that said “Dreams Really Do Come True”) and then emerging out of a distant kitchen slot as a toasted edible treat that the winning Kansas State football team hungrily devoured. Corporate marketing at its most surreal, it deservedly became a late-2023 viral sensation, and highlighted the abject absurdity of this event’s every aspect. In the face of such a performance-art masterpiece, what hope was there for any competing breakfast-food entertainment?Accepting that formidable challenge is Jerry Seinfeld, who directs, co-writes, and headlines Unfrosted, a new Netflix comedy, out May 3, about the creation of the famed morning snack. Boasting an enormous roster of funny men and women in a tale that’s fashioned in a 1960s Space Race mold, it’s an amusing trifle of a feature, generating more mild smiles than outright laughs. Superior to Seinfeld’s prior cinematic offering, 2007’s animated Bee Movie, it’s content to be childishly silly rather than legitimately weird, veering between gags concerning age-old products and Jan. 6 with a mildness that keeps things pleasantly pedestrian. There’s nothing particularly awful about it, but there’s also very little that’s memorable, save for an advertising-agency bit involving some choice cameos, the welcome participation of Hugh Grant, and a child performance that manages to one-up the film’s cavalcade of stars.In an old-fashioned diner, a young runaway (Isaac Bae) takes a seat on a stool beside Bob Cabana (Seinfeld), who proceeds to recount the origin story of the Pop-Tart in Battle Creek, Michigan, home to both Kelloggs and Post. Cabana works for the former under the leadership of Edsel Kellogg III (Jim Gaffigan), who’s thrilled with Bob’s success at making their company the king of the cereal world—as evidenced by the numerous trophies they earn at the 1963 Bowl and Spoon Awards. Kelloggs is the mecca of the industry, and Unfrosted depicts its headquarters as a colorful place populated by people dressed as their products’ iconic characters, from Snap (Kyle Mooney), Crackle (Mikey Day), and Pop (Drew Tarver) to Tony the Tiger (Grant), who’s played by pompous Shakespearean actor Thurl Ravenscroft, and whose catchphrase (“They're Gr-r-reat!”) is birthed via a commercial-shoot eureka that’s as ho-hum as many of the ensuing jokes.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Jerry Seinfeld’s Pop-Tarts Movie ‘Unfrosted’ Is as Bad as You’d Expect
John P. Johnson / Netflix No Pop-Tarts-related media will ever top the conclusion to last December’s Pop-Tarts Bowl, which ended with a human Pop-Tart mascot committing suicide by lowering himself into a giant on-field toaster (while holding a sign that said “Dreams Really Do Come True”) and then emerging out of a distant kitchen slot as a toasted edible treat that the winning Kansas State football team hungrily devoured. Corporate marketing at its most surreal, it deservedly became a late-2023 viral sensation, and highlighted the abject absurdity of this event’s every aspect. In the face of such a performance-art masterpiece, what hope was there for any competing breakfast-food entertainment?Accepting that formidable challenge is Jerry Seinfeld, who directs, co-writes, and headlines Unfrosted, a new Netflix comedy, out May 3, about the creation of the famed morning snack. Boasting an enormous roster of funny men and women in a tale that’s fashioned in a 1960s Space Race mold, it’s an amusing trifle of a feature, generating more mild smiles than outright laughs. Superior to Seinfeld’s prior cinematic offering, 2007’s animated Bee Movie, it’s content to be childishly silly rather than legitimately weird, veering between gags concerning age-old products and Jan. 6 with a mildness that keeps things pleasantly pedestrian. There’s nothing particularly awful about it, but there’s also very little that’s memorable, save for an advertising-agency bit involving some choice cameos, the welcome participation of Hugh Grant, and a child performance that manages to one-up the film’s cavalcade of stars.In an old-fashioned diner, a young runaway (Isaac Bae) takes a seat on a stool beside Bob Cabana (Seinfeld), who proceeds to recount the origin story of the Pop-Tart in Battle Creek, Michigan, home to both Kelloggs and Post. Cabana works for the former under the leadership of Edsel Kellogg III (Jim Gaffigan), who’s thrilled with Bob’s success at making their company the king of the cereal world—as evidenced by the numerous trophies they earn at the 1963 Bowl and Spoon Awards. Kelloggs is the mecca of the industry, and Unfrosted depicts its headquarters as a colorful place populated by people dressed as their products’ iconic characters, from Snap (Kyle Mooney), Crackle (Mikey Day), and Pop (Drew Tarver) to Tony the Tiger (Grant), who’s played by pompous Shakespearean actor Thurl Ravenscroft, and whose catchphrase (“They're Gr-r-reat!”) is birthed via a commercial-shoot eureka that’s as ho-hum as many of the ensuing jokes.Read more at The Daily Beast.