Unfrosted isn’t fun for the whole family (review and parents guide)

While promoting his feature directorial debut Unfrosted for Netflix, comedian Jerry Seinfeld made some comments about the state of comedy that inevitably made headlines and created ire. Although others might have agreed with his statements, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney understandably, and rather casually, did not.

Seinfeld said during a podcast interview with The New Yorker said television comedy isn’t what it once was and couldn’t be the same as it was, which according to the Seinfeld star and creator is “the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people.” (It’s worth noting that Seinfeld has not created or starred in a scripted TV sitcom since his ended in 1998.)

It’s slightly ironic then that Seinfeld’s film Unfrosted, which at face value appears to be a colorful and silly family-friendly comedy about the race to get Pop-Tarts on shelves in the 1960s, features visual gags and innuendos that don’t seem to have been sanitized for the sake of worrying about offending younger audiences. Sure, the off-color cereal jokes will save comedy.

All being told, Unfrosted earns its PG-13 rating, which has been given to the film for suggestive references and language. Wondering whether it’s the right pick for family movie night? Wondering whether it’s worth the watch at all? Here’s what you need to know about the content of the film along with a spoiler-free vibe check before adding it to your watch list.

While the movie isn’t a nearly as inappropriate as an R-rated spoof comedy with profanity flying left and right (think star Melissa McCarthy’s hilarious cop comedy The Heat co-starring Sandra Bullock), some of the innuendo-laced language definitely walks the line. There’s nothing explicitly distasteful that children will understand, but for that reason, kids probably won’t be totally captivated by every scene.

For instance, there’s a sequence where an “in memoriam” is held for cereals that are no longer in circulation, and there’s an image of a cereal box featuring an older woman under the name “Grandma’s Holes.” Obviously, children will not fully comprehend what the joke is or what it means, but some parents likely won’t want their kids repeating that particular fake cereal name. Again, comparatively to other movies, this joke is rather tame.

As the rating explanation alludes, there are lines of dialogue and other visual gags that walk the line of double meaning, which is very emblematic of Seinfeld’s style of comedy as seen in his eponymous sitcom. In one scene, Max Greenfield’s character says to Jim Gaffigan’s, “I have been eating you for years.” He means his food, but… yeah.

Another scene features Gaffigan’s character explaining milking cows, which he said farmers did for fun. “It was just a gross white liquid,” he says over an image of a farmer milking a cow and the milk spraying on another man. The innuendo there is apparent and funny to some audiences, though, as Seinfeld himself claimed in his New Yorker interview, to others not.

Those are just two early examples of the film’s sense of humor, and if those jokes don’t align with your particular sense of humor, it’s probably best to skip Unfrosted. On the other hand, the movie as a whole is extremely fun and makes good on its silly, quirky, and colorful promise. The cast, which is chock full of top comedy talents, succeeds in seeing Seinfeld’s vision through.

Overall consensus: Unfrosted lives up to being an easily digestible comedy film, even if its target audience isn’t as easily identifiable as that of the breakfast treats it’s based upon. Kids won’t get the jokes adults will, and the little ones might find the film forgettable, but it’s an entertaining way to spend an hour and a half for a light chuckle care of tried-and-true comedy greats.

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