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Friday, May 27, 2011
Film / Film Reviews Greatest Movie Ever Sold: Worth the cost, but just barely
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, May 27, 2011 at 2:58 PM
By Matt Brunson
POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD
**1/2
DIRECTED BY Morgan Spurlock
STARS Morgan Spurlock, Ralph Nader
Just how big of a camera hog is Morgan Spurlock, the documentarian best known for the immensely entertaining Super Size Me? Let's just say that if someone placed him next to Michael Moore, the Fahrenheit 9/11 filmmaker would suddenly appear as reclusive as the late J.D. Salinger by comparison.
OK, so that's a wee bit of an exaggeration, but while Moore at least has the sense to turn the camera away from himself long enough to burrow into the subject at hand, Spurlock demonstrates with POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold that it's hard for him to keep his mind on anything besides Morgan Spurlock. The rather simple hook of this picture is that Spurlock elected to make a documentary about product placements by financing it with money raised solely through — you got it — product placements. So for most of the film's 90-minute running time, we watch Spurlock hitting up various companies for sponsorships and discussing the philosophical ramifications of the practice with social activist Ralph Nader, political dissident Noam Chomsky and, uh, Rush Hour 3 director Brett Ratner.
It's all entertaining stuff, but unlike Super Size Me, it only skims the surface, as Spurlock never really takes time to dig into the more fascinating subplots that arise from the material (such as the power that some unlikely behind-the-scenes figures wield when it comes to dictating a movie's content) and instead seems more satisfied in smugly trumpeting his own cleverness. But hey, more power to him. If he hadn't made it in the movies, this cheerful salesman would doubtless be working at a car dealership near you.
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