Critics have panned Jerry Seinfeld's 'Unfrosted.' One called it 'one of the worst films of the decade.' (2024)

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Some critics were positive and said the film had some truly funny moments.

"Unfrosted" currently has a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of 42% and an audience score of 53%.

Despite this, the film debuted with a rotten rating (to have a fresh score, more than 60% of the reviews need to be positive). Some critics did enjoy the film.

The Guardian's film critic Peter Bradshaw said the film was "amiable and funny."

Meanwhile, The New York Times selected the movie as its Critic's Pick for the week. In its review, Amy Nicholson wrote, "The jokes spill forth so fast that there's no time for the shtick to get soggy."

However, most were not as nice.

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One critic described it as "one of the worst films of the decade ."

The Chicago Sun-Times entertainment columnist Richard Roeper wrote that the film was "one of the worst films of the decade so far."

William Bibbiani, a critic for The Wrap, began his review: "Jerry Seinfeld's new comedy 'Unfrosted' is an impressive film. It's not a good film, and it's not a funny film, but if you watch the first three hours on Netflix and then pause it, you'll find that somehow only one hour has passed. And that is pretty impressive, in a boring way."

The Telegraph film critic Tim Robey described his viewing experience as "trapped in a writers' room full of stale air."

"When we reach minute 25, and not one joke has sparkled, you dream of escape," he said.

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Critics said "Unfrosted" doesn't give any insight into the creation of Pop-Tarts.

If you are interested in the history of Pop-Tarts, this movie is not for you. Some critics have described the movie as "hollow," arguing that the story has nothing to say about Pop-Tarts, the cereal business, or even brand biopics.

Daily Beast critic Nick Schager wrote: "With no inspired perspective on its subject matter, the film proves a soggy attempt at deriving humor from a breakfast-wars premise that seems better fit for a five-minute Saturday Night Live sketch."

Ross Bonaime, Collider's senior film editor, wrote, referring to "Seinfeld": "Maybe it shouldn't be surprising that the man who created a 'show about nothing' has also made a movie that feels as hollow as a Froot Loop. Seinfeld has made a directorial debut that ends up feeling like a bowl of sugary cereal: not a terrible thing to eat, but not as fulfilling or substantial as you might've hoped it would be."

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Critics say the movie sacrifices the story for jokes that aren't good.

The one thing "Unfrosted" offers is jokes and gags and, according to critics, there's a lot of them.

Bonamine wrote that the bizarre storylines in the movie are used to drop more jokes and "an absurd amount of cameos" rather than telling an interesting story.

"It's as though Seinfeld and his team crafted the jokes they wanted to tell within this world, then created a flimsy story around it to collect them all," he wrote.

Bibbiani wrote: "There's a non-stop cavalcade of celebrity cameos which aren't funny because, for the most part, the whole joke is that they're celebrity cameos. The humor is thuddingly blunt, and the punchlines constantly call attention to themselves, which robs them of their punch."

Kate Stables wrote for GamesRadar: "The mad rush to see how many jokes, pastiches, and celebrity cameos it can pack in (there's a terrific Mad Man interlude) produces a periodically frantic feel, amped up by the many 60s hits on the soundtrack."

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Critics say the tone of the movie is all over the place.

Many critics also said the movie failed to have a consistent tone because of the absurdity of the jokes.

Bonamine wrote that the cinematography sometimes made the movie look like a "candy-colored dream world," while other moments felt like a "single-camera sitcom."

The Times of London film critic Kevin Maher wrote: "The tone, however, is scattershot at best, and the film swings between madcap Willy Wonka-style fable and soft corporate satire."

Danny Leigh, a Financial Times critic, concluded his review that the movie feels like it was constructed for Seinfeld's own enjoyment.

"What strange mix of nostalgic boomers, under-12s, and Seinfeld completists is the target audience for a film that plays like a comedy for kids, but with running gags about Walter Cronkite's drinking?" he wrote. "Then you get the joke. It has been made for the only person on earth it could also have been made by: Jerry Seinfeld. He still can't act, and I'm really not sure he can direct either, but he has the gift of a true auteur for making a movie in his image."

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"Unfrosted" is filled with cameos, but only a few standouts.

"Unfrosted" boasts a big cast of major names, including Jon Hamm, Hugh Grant, Melissa McCarthy, Bill Burr, Peter Dinklage, and Fred Armisen. However, only a few actors stand out.

Bibbiani said Grant, who stars as the man under the Tony the Tiger cereal mascot, "has the film's only consistently funny subplot."

Bradshaw wrote: "There are also nice supporting roles and cameos, including an extraordinary dual walk-on from Jon Hamm and John Slattery, recreating their ad exec Mad Men personae Don Draper and Roger Sterling."

Schagor wrote that one of the child actors, Eleanor Sweeney, "manages to one-up the film's cavalcade of stars" in one scene.