Now this is a trailer. Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story is a story that hasn’t been told on film, but I’m way more intrigued by this Jerry Seinfeld vehicle than I ever expected to be. By the time this comes out, Seinfeld will be 70 years old. He has arguably the best TV comedy series of all-time. No qualms at all from anyone if he rested on his laurels.
Instead, here he is, leading a massive, star-studded ensemble cast whilst juggling directing and co-writing duties. Pretty cool to see.
Unfrosted gives up The Founder vibes to some degree, except cranked up to the figurative Spinal Tap 11. The start of the trailer sets an awesome tone. Obviously, the early 1960s in the U.S. was a time of significant change. The civil rights movement was in full swing, but so was the Cold War and the Space Race. The latter is parodied here, with a Pop-Tart emerging from a toaster in a mock rocket ship launch that will propel Kellogg’s over Post in their own arms race rivalry for control of Americans’ breakfast tastes.
That’s a lot for the first 15 seconds or so of a trailer, let me tell you. The rest of it reveals a little more plot, but more than anything else, it just feels like Netflix flexing the **** out of how talented the cast is they managed to get in place.
You’ve got Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Hugh Grant, James Marsden, Amy Schumer, Max Greenfield, Fred Armisen… the list goes on.
So many big names on there who weren’t even in the trailer. Nothing prepared me for Bill Burr popping up as John Fitzgerald Kennedy, though! WHAT.
Bill Burr cracks me up. Not just because his stand-up comedy is great, or because of his interviews on podcasts or what have you. He comes across as someone who could barely give a damn about acting, and yet, he pops up in things like Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian and absolutely nails it. Obviously, he has his own animated show at Netflix, F Is for Family, and that’s been a huge success, but Burr has been in more films lately. It seems like his acting chops only continue to improve. I’m betting the JFK appearance is little more than a cameo in Unfrosted, but still, I was shocked to see him. And being a Boston guy, Burr fits the role quite well from the little we get to see!
Hugh Grant popping up as Tony the Tiger was fantastic, too.
We’ll see how the movie itself turns out. Sometimes films with big casts like this don’t pan out, but the only way I see Unfrosted not totally working is if it’s sort of a paint-by-numbers biopic-ish narrative.
Considering all the talented actors on hand, I have a good feeling it won’t be that.
