Jerry Seinfeld’s highly anticipated film “Unfrosted” has arrived, but critics are raining on the comedian’s big-screen directorial debut. Despite boasting an impressive cast and Seinfeld’s pedigree, the fictional Pop-Tart origins story is being panned as a disappointing, laugh-starved misfire.
The movie, framed as a satirical take on trendy brand biopics like “Air” and “Blackberry,” aims to blend absurdist humor with 1960s period flair. However, most reviews suggest “Unfrosted” misses the mark, sacrificing substance for a relentless barrage of undercooked jokes and celebrity cameos.
“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,” wrote The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager.
The movie currently holds a dismal 42% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, with many reviewers criticizing its tonal inconsistencies and lack of genuine insight into Pop-Tarts or the cereal industry.
“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,” said Ross Bonaime of Collider.
While some critics praised sporadic bright spots – The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it “amiable and funny” – the overwhelming consensus is that “Unfrosted” buckles under the weight of its own self-indulgence.
“The mad rush to see how many jokes, pastiches and celebrity cameos it can pack in produces a periodically frantic feel,” noted GamesRadar’s Kate Stables, echoing a common critique about the film’s joke-stuffed maximalism.
The starry cast, including Jon Hamm, Hugh Grant, and Melissa McCarthy, failed to elevate the proceedings, with only Grant’s “Tony the Tiger” subplot earning consistent praise.
For the Chicago Sun-Times’ Richard Roeper, “Unfrosted” ranks among “one of the worst films of the decade so far,” while The Telegraph’s Tim Robey described being “trapped in a writers’ room full of stale air” during the jokeless viewing experience.
The negative reviews are a surprising stumble for Seinfeld, whose recent controversial comments about “PC crap” ruining comedy raised expectations that “Unfrosted” would provide something with greater value. Instead, it’s being pushed down as a misguided vanity project, unlikely to convert skeptics.
“It has been made for the only person on earth it could have been made by: Jerry Seinfeld,” concluded the Financial Times’ Danny Leigh. “He still can’t act, and I’m really not sure he can direct either.”
Ouch. While not every critic piled on, the tepid reception suggests Seinfeld’s first big-screen outing as a director will quickly be forgotten, fading into a Pop-Tart crumb of Hollywood’s past.
