POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD

Comical Capitalism

Title: POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD

Quality: * * * Acceptability: -1

SUBTITLES: None

WARNING CODES:

Language: L

Violence: None

Sex: S

Nudity: N

RATING: PG-13

RELEASE: April 22, 2011

TIME: 88 minutes

STARRING: Morgan Spurlock

DIRECTOR: Morgan Spurlock

PRODUCERS: Keith Calder, Jessica Wu

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Morgan Spourlock, Jeremy Chilnick, Abbie Hurewitz

WRITER: Morgan Spurlock

BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A

DISTRIBUTOR:  Sony Pictures Classics/Sony Pictures Entertainment

CONTENT: (B, L, S, N, A, D, M) Light moral worldview in humorous documentary showing how rampant and all-consuming advertising has become in modern Western society, with average people being led into nearly every purchase through alluring mind tricks, and star/filmmaker Spurlock exposing how the process of product placement works to subconsciously affect desires and purchasing behavior; two “f” words and several light profanities; no violence; a couple of quick montage sequences feature sensual images of famous print ads with attractive models; pictures of models sitting in various states of undress or completely nude, but not actually showing any explicit nudity; no alcohol use; smoking; and, Spurlock is shown humorously making calls to ad agencies and product companies seeking meetings in which he hopes to convince corporations to advertise in this movie, with ridiculously large ad purchases intended to fund the budget.

GENRE: Documentary

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Teenagers and adults

REVIEWER: Carl Kozlowski

POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD offers viewers a humorous and amusing look at the ways in which modern advertising has resorted to ever more subtle tricks and gimmicks in movies to promote their wares. The main gimmick being mocked in this documentary by Morgan Spurlock is product placement – in which characters in TV shows or movies – blatantly use or mention their use of a famous product or brand name. The documentary follows Spurlock’s goal is to raise at least $1.5 million to finance itself, by selling off the right to place products throughout the movie. For instance, Spurlock would only use Ban brand deodorant on-camera or only eat Amy’s brand pizza if Ban or Amy’s agreed to spend $50,000 or $100,000 on the movie. Also, POM, a fruit juice company, won the right to put its name on the documentary’s title.

Spurlock walked this route before with his Oscar-nominated documentary SUPER SIZE ME, which explored the health impacts of fast food on himself and society. Where McDonalds, Spurlock’s prime target in SUPER SIZ ME, argues that that movie took some excessive liberties in its framing of the truth, here, every company is clearly marked as either being along for joke, or against it. It’s intriguing to see which companies refused to get involved with Spurlock’s documentary and why, as much as it is fascinating and funny to see smaller companies jump at the chance to achieve recognition through the film.

Spurlock doesn’t seem to be attacking capitalism in THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD. Instead, he’s asking viewers – through a mix of humor and facts –to pay closer attention to the constant bombardment of messages they receive and to be more discerning about which messages they let into their minds.

THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD makes that point in clever, funny ways, but there’s brief foul language and some sensual images, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.