Unfrosted: Movie Review

Cast: Jerry Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffney, Amy Schumer, Hugh Grant

Director: Jerry Seinfeld

Leaving a lot to be desired, Jerry Seinfeld's take on the evolution of breakfast snack Pop Tarts takes a bit of his Seinfeld-esque show and stand up ("The great thing about cereal is eating and drinking with one hand") and a hint of the aesthetic of Asteroid City and bundles it up into something that's tepid and almost tedious at times.

Seinfeld plays Kellogg's marketing executive Bob Cabana, who tells the story of the rivalry between cereal makers Post and Kellogg's to a child who's run away and is sat at a diner.

It's a "marketing man's" take on the history of what happened, but with no sign of any flair or real skill, Unfrosted mixes reality with fantasy in a mix of elements that feels contrived and barely with any fluidity at all.

With a lack of absurdity and a lack of gags, Unfrosted teeters too dangerously on the uneven.

There are precisely two laugh out loud moments that show frustratingly what could have been. Firstly, an attack on Kellogg's building that channels the January 6 assault and the leading shaman works brilliantly thanks to Hugh Grant's shamanic and frustrated Tony the Tiger mascot; and secondly, a riff on Mad Men with the original cast is just brilliance.

But it's moments like this in the 100 minute run that make Unfrosted so viciously unfunny. Seinfeld's never been a great comic actor - channeling once again the shouting high-pitched antics he used to roll out when trying to act in the TV series, the film shows his limitations while others around him flounder thanks to flat dialogue and generally uninspired direction.

There's so much talent here, it feels criminal to have wasted so much of it.

A generous person would say in parts, Unfrosted is amiable genial fare. But it's partly because of that it feels so frustratingly undercooked throughout. With neither a Pop nor any Tart material this film is perhaps one of the most disappointing of 2024 - a real cereal killer.