Documentary Review - Pom Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Directed by: Morgan Spurlock
Starring: Morgan Spurlock, various products

Whatever your thoughts on Spurlock, you have to admit he's a great pitchman.

With "Super-size Me" he practically invented the high-concept documentary and commercialised the docu genre just as much as the Hollywood machine he rails against here has with mainstream fare. Every one of his films can be summed up in one sentence which is exactly what a studio exec wants to hear from a film-maker. So, it's no surprise that he could pull off the concept of funding an entire movie purely by product placement. What is surprising is how many companies refused to participate; don't they know there's no such thing as bad publicity?
In a perfect world artists could rely on rich benefactors whose only interest lay in seeing the artists true vision rendered, no matter what the cost. The real world just doesn't work that way, nor has it ever. The originators of product placement were probably the Catholic Church. Without the need to sell their product the public would never have heard Mozart or seen the works of Michaelangelo. Whether Mozart or Michaelangelo believed in the product is up for debate. What's undeniable is that they wouldn't have found an audience without the Church. Maybe they sacrificed their integrity but do we care now? We can enjoy their work thanks to their "selling-out".
So is product placement killing cinema? I can't speak for everyone but I can't think of an example of product placement ruining a movie for me. Quite the opposite in fact. Ever seen a product that's been invented purely for the movie? That instantly takes you out of the film because it automatically reminds you that what you're seeing isn't real. It's like when a phone number starts with 555, it would be much less distracting to just use a real number.

This movie suffers from being a victim of it's own concept. Because he relies on product placement to make the movie Spurlock has to hold back from mocking it. I'm sure a witty biting satire could be made on this subject but this isn't it.
If anyone wishes to sponsor this review contact me and we'll work something out.
4/10

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