The Pickle

This is a great off-the-wall romantic comedy about love, work, pandering to the public taste, and midlife crises. The main character is a talented movie director who decides to make a silly PG-13 movie to get himself out of hock with the IRS. It has an excellent cast, a wide range of humor (from deadpan to slapstick), and fine writing. It's also a wry send-up of the movie industry. The metacommentary includes several excellent cuts between reality and the movie that's being made, and in some places the film departs from strict realism. The result is a multi-dimensional masterpiece of wry midlife humor.

Harry Stone (Danny Aiello) is a well-known director who has built his reputation on doing films of depth and biting satire. When he finds himself in a financial bind, however, the lure of a big check seduces him into compromising his artistic values and directing a script that no self-respecting professional would associate his name with. The Pickle (the movie- within-the-movie) is a terrible story about a giant cucumber that's actually a space ship. As the film's premiere approaches, Harry goes through twenty-four hours of intense anxiety. Paul Mazursky's The Pickle is in the tradition of The Big Picture and The Player, and, like those films, elements of this quirky, satirical farce are not ideal for general consumption. However, for those who like to laugh, The Pickle offers plenty of opportunities.

It's very interesting to think of how very much this movie could have achieved and didn't. It was supposed to be a look at humanity versus consumerism and art versus marketability. The Pickle is actually three movies in one- we have the story of the director, the movie he has made, and the movie he wants to make. It's a good idea...but something got lost in the transition from idea to film. The story of the director is pretty depressing and largely painful to watch. Aiello's performance is merely adequate, and the relationships he rediscovers with his family and annoying girlfriend seem preachy and cliched. The movie he is about to release, about a giant pickle from outer space, is meant to be amusing high camp, but it's just plain weird. And the movie he dreams of making, based on his childhood, doesn't seem to have a real purpose. THIS moviegoer certainly wouldn't pick it over the space pickle movie.

In a nutshell, I don't think I'd pay money to see this film again, though if you bribed me with some of Little Richard's liver-flavored jelly beans I might give it a shot.

It's hard to decide what to say about this one. It isn't totally, one hundred percent bad. Although the movie-in-a-movie is unspeakably bad, meant to be campy, but missing by a mile. I'm pretty sure that this is intentional, however. Danny Aiello is perfectly adequate here, and more or less nails his pathetic character. Dyan Cannon was good in a small role. Clotilde Courau was impressive as the latest twenty-something girlfriend. And Linda Carlson had a brave topless scene that she pulled off very well.

So, it's not totally bad, but I don't believe that this one accomplishes its goals. All in all, it's probably worth passing on.

I have no idea why this brilliant Paul Mazursky film has such a low rating on imdb... The Pickle is a brilliant, heartwarming film about a movie director's contemplative journey through his past as he is about to premiere a supposed stinker. Filled with great actors and a hilarious script, this is one beautiful, warm and wonderful film that I highly recommend especially if you like Woody Allen's Stardust Memories.