Movie Info
Movie Info
- Director
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Run Time
- 1 hour and 37 minutes
- Rating
- PG-13
VP Content Ratings
- Violence
- 2/10
- Language
- 1/10
- Sex & Nudity
- 1/10
- Star Rating
Relevant Quotes
Do not rejoice when your enemies fall,
and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble…
Jerry Seinfeld directs as well as stars in this silly spoof of the legendary rivalry between the two giants of breakfast cereal, Post and Kellogg’s. He also cowrote the whacky script with long-time associates Spike Feresten and Andy Robin. Although I think the three writers and their cast had more fun with the film than I did, I still laughed a lot. Set in Battle Creek Michigan, what passes for a plot concerns the NASA-like race between the two companies to develop the first breakfast food that does not require a bowl, spoon, and milk.
The story starts out with Kellogg’s again winning the cereal ratings and awards over Post, as it has ben doing for several years. Marjorie Post (Amy Schumer), hating Post, is determined to beat her rival by developing a new cereal. Both corporations employ at the rival’s company a janitor with a camera half-hidden in his mop, so Bob Cabana (Seinfeld) at Kellogg’s soon is informed of this. He also has encountered two kids in a dumpster scrounging for the thrown out remains of the experiment, so he is deeply motivated to develop his own. He steals away from NASA’s experiment with Tang his former associate Donna ‘Stan’ Stankowski (Melissa McCarthy).
Encouraged by company head Edsel Kellogg III (Jim Gaffigan) who fears that he will be the family member that fails to keep Post No. 1, the duo form a panel of experts they call “taste pilots” consisting of Chef Boyardee (Bobby Moynihan), body-builder guru Jack LaLanne (James Marsden), and Steve Schwinn (Jack McBrayer) of bicycle fame, even though none of them know anything about food production.
The plot includes Kellog’s buying up all the world’s available sugar to delay Marjory Post’s claim that they will have their product in grocery stores within a week, a shady deal with s Puerto Rican crook known as El Sucre, and a series of product tests that evoke the blast test in Oppenheimer; the craziest graveside funeral ever filmed; and even President Kennedy and—well, go and see this crazy diversion for yourself.
I love the development of unintended consequences—the new toaster-heated breakfast means that milk will not be required, so the mafia-like milkman Mike Diamond (Christian Slater) threatens the cereal producers with a Godfather-like vendetta if they proceed. Also, the segment involving President Kennedy brings the threat of Nuclear Armageddon. The subplot of the cereal mascots rising up in revolt is fun, with Hugh Grant especially memorable as Tony the Tiger. When the mascots storm the Kellogg’s Building, Grant is costumed as Jacob Chansley, the US Capitol rioter known as the “QAnon Shaman.”
No great lessons to be learned from this parody, juts mayhem and absurdist fun. Some of the humor is a bit forced, but lots of ludicrous hi-jinx will stay with you for a long time.
This review is in the June issue of VP along with a set of questions for reflection and/or discussion. If you have found reviews on this site helpful, please consider purchasing a subscription or individual issue in The Store.