An American Pickle | 2020 | PG-13 | – 1.4.4

Why is “An American Pickle” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some language and rude humor.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a kiss between a married couple, a very brief attack on a village leaving it in ruins and flames with some blood splatter, an accidental death, a few fistfights, discussions of the death of loved ones, deportation, and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

---

A Jewish man (Seth Rogen) from Eastern Europe comes to America in 1919 and promptly falls into vat of pickling brine that preserves him for a century. When he is revived, he meets his great-grandson (also Seth Rogen) and while originally thrilled, they soon realize they belong to entirely different realities. Also with Sarah Snook, Molly Evensen, Eliot Glazer, Kalen Allen, Kevin O’Rourke, Sean Whalen, Geoffrey Cantor, Carol Leifer, Jorma Taccone and Marsha Stephanie Blake. Directed by Brandon Trost. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in Yiddish with English subtitles and a few prayers are spoken in Hebrew without translation. [Running Time: 1:30]

An American Pickle SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man and woman marry and kiss at the ceremony. A man sees a woman in a market and says, “I decide to woo her.” We see that a woman is pregnant as her husband touches her clothed abdomen. A man describes a pre-teen boy and a man as a “shapely young woman.”

An American Pickle VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – Many men with swords ride on horseback into a small town; we hear hacking and screaming as blood splatters on a woman’s face and dress; we see the town in flames and rubble afterward. A man is told that his wife has been dead for 80 years and he punches the man telling him (we see him with a bruised eye later). A man punches another man in the face twice, knocking him out (we see blood on his mouth). A man becomes angry when he sees that his dead wife’s grave is surrounded by garbage and a large billboard looms over it; he threatens workers putting up a new billboard and punches several of them in the face and head-butts a few (we see him and the man he is with in jail later). A man kills rats in a pickle factory for a job and we see him swinging a club and crushing rats (he is splattered in the face with blood once); he finds many rats during one scene and he moves away from them as they approach him pushing him off a ramp and into a vat of pickles in brining liquid. A man falls and cuts his hand (we see a bloody cut) and another man bandages it.
► A man falls into a vat of pickles in brining liquid, the lid is place on the vat and the factory is condemned and shut down, leaving the man in the vat (he remains alive). A man digs in thick mud on the side of a road and his shovel breaks twice and he gets on his knees and digs with his hands; another shovel breaks later and then the wheel of his horse-drawn cart falls off. A man pounds on an apartment door and opens it, unrolling a tarp on the floor and arguing with a man inside. A man breaks into a man’s apartment and shatters a window. A man digs through garbage dumpsters and retrieves cucumbers and salt and used jars to make pickles that he sells on the street (we see unfiltered rainwater and dirty jars in a few scenes).
► Two men walk through thick woods and sleep outside in the snow; they huddle together for warmth. A man is arrested by border patrol and taken away in handcuffs. A man is deported and we see him arriving in a small town, unable to speak the language. A man and a woman enter a port and we see people being interrogated, insulted and families being separated by immigration officers. A man is shown strapped to an exam table in a laboratory.
► Two teenage boys fly a drone into an abandoned factory, they follow it inside and discover a vat that they open and are frightened by a man that sits up from under the liquid (the man appears unscathed and we hear that he has been in the vat for 100 years). A man is startled by a motorized scooter on a sidewalk and a car in the road and he holds his fists up toward them. Two men cut down a billboard with axes. A health department official closes down a man’s pickle cart for numerous infractions and gives him a $12,000 fine. A man buys a woman a smoked fish and she bites its head off (we see some smudged on her cheek). A woman blows her nose in a man’s handkerchief and returns it to him; he takes it and puts it in his pocket. A man runs to the side of a road and unzips his pants (we assume that he is urinating, but do not see any urine).
► Two men argue in several scenes. A man participates in a debate and he makes a derogatory remark about Christians and people in the audience become angry and yell; we see a large crowd of people chasing him in the streets and throwing things at him. People protest outside a man’s shelter in a park and they wave signs and yell at him. We hear news reports that a man has had his citizenship revoked and that he will be deported. A man asks, “How long has meat been dead for?” A man says that his parents died in a car crash. A man talks about people being murdered by Cossacks. A man threatens people in a few scenes and says, “I will do violence to you.” A woman tells a man, “I’m destitute.” A man says that he is very sad when he thinks he has no family left. A man tells another man that he will “Bear witness to your grief.” A man remarks with surprise about a man and a woman walking together being a couple and another man tells him that they are an interracial couple. A man talks to another man about saying a prayer for the dead. A man is told that his business will fail because he has a criminal record. A man talks about a woman enjoying chasing wolves, clubbing them and killing them.

An American Pickle LANGUAGE 4

 – 7 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 5 mild obscenities, 2 derogatory terms for Polish people, 3 derogatory terms for women, name-calling (crazy, blood-thirsty, maniacs, despicable, prostitute, dumb Polack, filthy Jews, Cossacks, traitor, polio arm, stupid, bad person, broken life, stupider than a Polish person, wheelchair people, hateful bigot, terrible, garbage, sodomites, stupidest, insane, pungent, Devil, satanic, overwhelming, weirdly, silly, buddy, the pickle guy), exclamations (whoa, no, nope, aww, have at it, go away, oh wow, oof), 9 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Amen, and a man talks about Jesus’ mother being a prostitute and that she made up the story of how Jesus came to be). | profanity glossary |

An American Pickle SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man drinks a beer in a bar, and a billboard advertising vanilla flavored vodka is put up over a cemetery.

An American Pickle DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Dreams, goals, family, being successful, disappointment, misery, loneliness, hate, sabotage, gender roles, sin, Twitter, jealousy, social media, sorrow, death of loved ones, grief, religious traditions.

An American Pickle MESSAGE

 – Culture and ethics change a lot in 100 years.