Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011)

 (1/5)

i love to talk and write about movies, but i'm certainly no movie critic. in fact, i sometimes find expressing what i liked and disliked about a documentary film difficult, especially because i don't wanna come off sounding like a pretentious douche. but i've seen enough docs to understand when a doc works and when it doesn't. and, unfortunately, Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold doesn't achieve what (i presume) the director, Morgan Spurlock, intended.

Spurlock (who also directed Supersize Me, 2004) looks at the use of product placement in movies and television by making a film entirely financed by sponsors. Spurlock keeps jumping from one company to another, whoring himself to executives to get his movie made - each attempt at trying to woo a new client is repetitive and lacks any impact.

Spurlock (i think) tries to make us laugh - (i actually did when he gets the giggles in the drug store when talking about Mane n' Tail shampoo - but that bit has nothing to do with the film - it's just silly), but the audience is SO in on his intent, the "joke" of it all, that the irony of what he's doing has zero effect. his knowing smiles to the camera are not cheeky. buddy, what you're doing is not mockingly funny, it's contrived. i found there to be no real critical comment (or even any real introspection of what he's doing) about the use of product placement in society because, in essence, the entire film is just one long commercial. 

there is nothing new or eye-opening in this film (except the part about Sao Paulo, Brazil passing a bill to remove all commercial ads in the streets, buses, taxis, anywhere) - THIS i found very interesting. and i would have loved to hear more from Noam Chomsky (a minute sound clip just isn't enough, sorry), and i found the bits about the school districts desperate for cash also quite good, but again - there wasn't enough of this to save the movie or the overall idea.

the movie was so disappointing that i came home and popped in Supersize Me to wash off the meh. 

oh, man - i LOVE Supersize Me. THIS is a real documentary. so, below, please find a clip from Supersize Me, which absolutely merits a perfect rating of 5/5 (although i'm no movie critic).