Jerry Seinfeld's Unfrosted is as goofy as you'd expect in new trailer

It’s the movie that will make you say, “This is Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut? Huh!” The first trailer for Unfrosted, premiering on Netflix on May 3, is here. If you’re wondering why Seinfeld chose this, of all subjects, for his first outing as a filmmaker, he’s just apparently been obsessed with Pop-Tarts his whole life. According to Tudum, he first mentioned the idea publicly on the Late Show in 2010, and tweeted about it again in 2018. During the pandemic, bored with nothing else to do, he and co-writer Spike Feresten finally said, why not? And thus, Unfrosted was born.

Here’s the synopsis from Netflix: “Battle Creek, Michigan, 1963. Kellogg’s and Post, sworn cereal rivals, race to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast forever. A wildly imaginative tale of ambition, betrayal, and menacing milkmen—sweetened with artificial ingredients—Unfrosted stars Jerry Seinfeld in his directorial film debut.”

Unfrosted has a seriously star-studded cast, including Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Hugh Grant, Amy Schumer, Max Greenfield, Christian Slater, Bill Burr, Daniel Levy, James Marsden, Jack McBrayer, Thomas Lennon, Bobby Moynihan, Adrian Martinez, Sarah Cooper, and Fred Armisen. Most of them play figures in the Kellogg’s vs. Post race; Grant, apparently, called Seinfeld up personally and said he wanted to be Tony the Tiger, becoming the first celebrity cast in the film besides Seinfeld himself.

Unfrosted may mark the end of a minor cinematic trend towards “Making Stuff” movies, a genre that has long existed (see: The Social Network) but saw a concentrated glut over the last year. There was Air, about sneakers, and BlackBerry, about phones, and Tetris, about games, and The Beanie Bubble, about Beanie Babies, and Flamin’ Hot, about Cheetos. These films varied in quality, reception, star power, and overall faithfulness to the true story, but they were all about the innovation and capitalist wheeling and dealing it takes to make these recognizable products a success. Coming at the tail end of the trend, Unfrosted appears to be as much a skewering of the genre as a participation in it. Whether it’s effective at doing so remains to be seen.