User Reviews

Clearly made by veterans of the business, this is the story of the twilight years in a film-makers life. Well... a successful, famous one, anyway. Numerous luminaries just off the Highest Paid rack appear: Ally Sheedy, Isabella Rossellini, Dudley Moore, and the ever-willing-to-make-a-fool-of-himself Little Richard in a hysterical turn as the President of Cleveland (don't worry, it doesn't make much more sense if you've seen the film).

I love Danny Aiello, and it isn't often I get to see him in a lead role, so I was inclined to like this movie from the get-go. Danny's great as an aging director who's reviewing his life, and his work, and finding himself coming up short from his childhood expectations. We follow the two days leading up to the premiere of Harry Stone's new movie, "The Pickle." It doesn't make it any easier to write this review that the films both bear the same name, so for now, I will refer to this movie-within-a-movie Pickle as "The Pickle Within". The Human Pickle comes later.

"The Pickle Within" is atrocious. On every level. And this is plaguing Harry Stone to no end. He reassesses each of his relationships; with his first wife, played nicely by Dyan Cannon; his current girlfriend, an English-language debut by the stunning Clotilde Courau; his daughter and her husband, both perpetually short of cash after growing accustomed to their father's celebrity lifestyle; even one of his many brief ex-wives Patti, whose Chinese accent is hysterically strong when she talks, but disappears when she sings.

The people in Harry's life are truly funny stereotypes, exclusively played by talented people who happen to fall outside Hollywood's A-List (though a few have been there in the past).

Ultimately, the path of Harry's life leads him to realize that yes, indeed, he himself is the Pickle (there it is... the Human Pickle), who, with warts, age, sourness, and all, is still a valuable person (cue inspirational music).

The Pickle. About a director, and written by a director. Danny Aiello is Harry Stone, about to release "The Pickle", which he fears will be another bomb. A fun supporting cast. Dyan Cannon, Jerry Stiller, Shelley Winters. Stephen Tobolowsky (Ned, from Groundhog Day!) Lots of little sight gags... the film crew is wearing "pickle" T shirts. Stone even has his own stalker, Bernadette. I think this story is a drama with comedy bits thrown in here and there. Unfortunately, the title and the summaries all lead you to think its going to be a comedy with some drama thrown in. It's also a little confusing, since we keep flashing back and forward... sometimes it's back to Stone's childhood, and sometimes it's back to when he was filming the movie. The film within a film is pretty funny, and has some GREAT people in it... Little Richard is the singing President, Isabella Rossellini, and Dudley Moore. Some funny one-liners "Pickle juice is now pressurized." and "Let's get this pickle off the ground!" My personal favorite is: "It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a pickle!" The bible on VCR tape has some funny updates! Shelley Winters is Stone's mom, in some type of nursing home, and still has faith in her son, but calls him out for selling out to pay his bills. That seems to be the point of the film -- coming to terms with himself, kind of a mid-life crisis. People keep telling him how they liked his older films. He also has (or had) big plans for the films that he never made. Stone has a strange relationship with his (much younger) girlfriend; Sometimes they are lovey-dovey, but every now and then he lashes out and yells at her to go back to France. Odd scene in the nightclub where he visits yet ANOTHER one of his ex wives, and she sings Goodbye Heartache. or someone does. Visiting all these ex-es is one of the running gags. Like everyone he meets wishing him good luck on the movie preview when it was supposed to be a big secret. He seems to learn little life-lessons from all the ex wives and friends he bumps into. Has an upbeat ending. Not sure why it got such a low rating. It IS a little offbeat, but some funny stuff in here. Similar to Funny Bones, with Jerry Lewis. another offbeat drama, with lots of humor. If you liked that one, you'll like this one!

Written and directed by Paul Mazursky, who was nominated FIVE times, four for writing, one for Best Picture. Dead, you know. but still has two projects in post-production, as of February 2016.