Unfrosted

Unfrosted is a 2024 American comedy film directed by Jerry Seinfeld from a screenplay he co-wrote with his writing team of Spike Feresten, Barry Marder, and Andy Robin.

Loosely based on the true story of the creation of Pop-Tarts toaster pastries, the film stars an ensemble cast that includes Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Max Greenfield, Hugh Grant, and Amy Schumer.

A young runaway orders Pop-Tarts in a diner, and a man named Bob Cabana offers to tell him the true origin story of the American breakfast food.

Bob convinces his boss Edsel Kellogg to hire Stan back from NASA, and the team sets to work creating their own version of the pastry, joining forces with several prominent industry figures as "taste pilots".

The idea of a communist breakfast worries president John F. Kennedy, who summons the Kellogg's team to the White House to discuss the matter and ultimately agrees to instruct his brother to put pressure on organized milk.

Walter Cronkite, reading a news brief off a piece of Silly Putty, misreads "Trat-Pop" in reverse as "Pop-Tart", forcing Kellogg's to change the name moments before they are shipped out.

Thurl ends up facing a congressional committee for his role in the attack, the milkmen are implicated in Kennedy's assassination, and Marjorie Post becomes an icon of feminism who retires to Mar-a-Lago.

Bob becomes nationally famous, and, during an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, is shot by Andy Warhol, who is furious that the name "Pop-Tart" sounds like "pop art".

In the present, the boy expresses doubt that a Pop-Tart packet could stop a bullet, and begins to question other elements of the story like the creation of a sentient ravioli creature by two of the taste pilots.

[10] To promote the movie, Kelloggs' and Netflix collaborated on a campaign called "Not brought to you by Pop-Tarts", including a mock legal threat, a short starring Seinfeld, and limited-edition packaging.

The website's consensus reads: "Much like a preservative-packed toaster pastry, Unfrosted is sweet and colorful, yet it's ultimately an empty experience that may leave the consumer feeling pangs of regret.

[18] The Hollywood Reporter noted that reviews such as those from the "country's top critics at publications like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle gave the film modestly positive reviews," while Chicago Sun-Times, The Globe and Mail, The Daily Beast, and Collider were "downright scathing", with the Sun-Times calling Unfrosted "one of the decade's worst movies" that Seinfeld should have aborted halfway into production.

"[20] In her The Hollywood Reporter review, Sheri Linden deems the film "a straight-up comedy — no therapeutic underpinnings or civic lessons — that's funniest when it isn't trying too hard" and also praises behind-the-camera skill and talent, stating: "Buoyed by Christophe Beck's score, a midcentury world-of-tomorrow vibe infuses the proceedings.

Collider compared Unfrosted poorly with Barbie as well as Tetris, Air, and Flamin' Hot—the former film the website cited for its deep social commentary and the other three for being "halfway decent biopics".