Director: Morgan Spurlock
Cast: Morgan Spurlock, J.J. Abrams, Peter Berg, Noam Chomsky, Brett Ratner, Ralph Nader
Running Time: 90 minutes
Certificate: PG
Synopsis: Spurlock is a sell-out, and he’s not afraid to show it. A documentary exploring the power of product placement that is funded, promoted and presented by brand sponsors.
In 2004’s SUPER SIZE ME, Spurlock used his affable, every-man style to take on the McDonald’s giants, and came out laughing. But in THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD, you can’t help but feel that Spurlock is jabbing his sword at a row of windmills. He wants to shine light on the muddied world of product placement, by creating a film which lives and dies on its brand-backers. But what we really see is not a film at all, just the giddy power of Spurlock, pulling in sponsors with his facetious sell. Aside from his mission to sign deoderants and the Island of Aruba on his budget sheet, the subject of the film is ever-sprawling. He was aiming for transparency, and now his point is nowhere to be seen.
Spurlock presents the issue of product placement as if it were a modern phenomenon. We’ve all groaned at the sight of Peter Parker web-shooting at a can of Dr Pepper, and wondered just how many times Joey can plug the Meatball Sub, but the gripe is nothing new. Hollywood has always looked to corporate compromise for over-budget pictures. Wings (1927), the first film to win an Academy Award, features a shameless close up of a Hershey’s chocolate bar, and ET will be forever synonymous with Reece’s Pieces. Even Harold and Kumar had Spurlock’s concept first, minus the satire, when they went to White Castle.
‘Documentary’ is a misleading genre-title for the latest Spurlock rouse. Rather than the fighting tooth and nail in his search for the truth, we watch him scramble to string his concept together. Much of the film involves Spurlock offering pitches to low-end brands, complete with storyboards and a shit-eating grin. He creates the illusion of brand pandering, one that fits his paltry humour. We see him lathering up a Shetland pony in the bath with his son to promote a shampoo ‘for man and horse’, and stopping dead in an interview to discuss his Old Navy jeans. It’s a tactic that manages to stay on the funny side of the fence, albeit one borrowed from Wayne’s World.
The only real sense of story is offered by Spurlock’s artistic crisis as he rejects his sponsor’s demands. But as he intersperses his own roughhewn interview footage with a polished commercial for POM juice, we wonder if that was a battle long lost. Spurlock chews on his own irony, and puffs up Violet Beauregarde-style into one big bastardized balloon.
Inside his bubble of gaudy logos, stress and brand-speak; Spurlock attempts to grab hold of the investigative journalism this film so desperately needs. In search of a new angle, he visits São Paulo, where all outdoor advertising has been banned. The idea is heartening, but as the shot pans out, we see a skeletal concrete city crying out for colour. So, will Spurlock take a stance? Don’t hold your breath, he’s busy writing promotional patter for Merrell shoes. His series of interviews gets swallowed whole by a goodie bag of brands, and we are left a with sentence-long segment from Noam Chomsky, a half baked anecdote from Tarantino, and a candle-flicker of J.J. Abrams.
In a bizarre tangent, Spurlock skips off to Florida to investigate advertising in schools. This has less to do with advertising, more with the effect of education cuts. Interesting, but simply in the wrong movie. This last ditch attempt to grasp onto the ‘doc’ prefix of the doc-buster brings the film into a confusing cul de sac. In an epilogue, we see Spurlock has purchased advertising space on their school banner, taking his ‘buying in’ theory right into the deep end.
Spurlock lets you in on the joke, but when you’re sipping the tart flavour of 100% pomegranate, you’ll wonder if it was ever funny.
