AJFF Review: The Pickle Recipe (2016)

When a cash-strapped party emcee, Joey (played by Jon Dore), loses all of his equipment in a fire, he must figure out how to afford new equipment in time for his daughter's bat mitzvah in just a few short weeks. He decides to partner with his shady Uncle Morty (played by David Paymer), in a scheme to steal his grandmother's (played by Lynn Cohen) world famous pickle recipe to sell it for quick cash.

You might read the synopsis of The Pickle Recipe (2016) and think to yourself, man that sounds dumb and you would be right. The premise for this film is pretty ridiculous and not very intriguing, but it makes for a pretty funny movie. Look, this is nothing groundbreaking, it is the same plot we have seen time and time again, but I still laughed a lot and was able to enjoy myself.

The majority of the performances were just okay with the exception of Lynn Cohen, who was excellent at the tough as nails grandmother. For some, the characters the issue wasn't so much the performance as it was the direction and the way the character was written. For example, David Paymer's, Uncle Morty, while his acting was fine, the character was a way over the top random hodgepodge of cheesy shady stereotypes. I did laugh a lot throughout this film, but for me, many of the jokes were misses.

By far, my biggest issue with this movie is the last 10 minutes. The ending wraps up very abruptly and is utterly predictable. The way the story plays out is perfectly acceptable, but it wrapped up so quickly, that it made it seem rushed and very unlikely that these characters would evolve as they did in just a few short minutes.

Overall, The Pickle Recipe is a cute and fun film that will keep you entertained for its 97-minute runtime. My biggest issues revolved around the cheesy seen it a million times story and the mediocre performances. While I did laugh a lot, some of the jokes were misfires in my eyes. I give The Pickle Recipe a 6 out of 10.