Super Cash Me

It's time for me to downsize my adoration of Morgan Spurlock, director of the Greatest Movie Ever Sold. His Supersize Me introduced me to the horrors of too much fast food, although I suspected that were so anyway. In Greatest, I learned nothing new about product placement in movies.

Despite his vigorous pursuit of companies to sponsor his film totally in product placement, I knew it all from the beginning. Much revenue is derived from an actor holding a Coke or a Pepsi. But then I knew that the minute I heard of the idea decades ago, and Spurlock adds zero insight, such as what marketing agencies or manufacturers really think about the idea other than their fear of Spurlock trashing them.

I did learn that Morgan Spurlock is as much the center of attention as Michael Moore. Spurlock seeks it out, guaranteeing his premier place by doing the film himself and showcasing his highly-developed sales skills.

OK, maybe I learned something else: In Sao Paulo outdoor advertising is banned. Although I thought I would be pleased, the city looked strangely vacant, something out of a horror flick. Maybe it's not the advertising I dislike—maybe it's just Morgan Spurlock's advertising himself that turns me off.

The Brilliant thing Morgan Spurlack does with this movie, is he throws in your face, what advertisers and movie executives have hidden, (in some case very poorly) in the movies they produce. The Transformers all being GMC for example. Spurlack satirises the whole idea of advertisements and sells out his own film in the process, though he sells out only to buy in, so he doesn't really sell out. Its this ingenious and hilarious concept to the movie which makes you think "holy cow I'm an idiot" and Morgan pushes his film to show the manipulative ways of commercial giants. Another clever trick Morgan uses is the, documentary within a documentary style. The film follows Morgan as he attempts to get advertising for his film which is going to be a documentary on advertising. So essential what we see is the pre-production of a movie which then becomes the movie. This gives a real insight in to how the big Hollywood blockbusters are able to get such high budgets by selling to advertisers.

This film only really appeals to people who are interested in how the media is able to have control over consumers, as we are pretty much witnessing a prolonged documentary on how Morgan Spurlock can find a million dollars to make a pretend movie.

A cleverly put together gem that manages to patronise an audience in to realising just how we can be manipulated by the big name brands.

Morgon Spurlock is the director famous for the documentary about McDonalds . This time he tackles the issue of product placement in the movies. By doing so he get's companies to pay for the making of this film by cramming it with their own product placement brands.

The problem i have is that this is not a film at all. It's not even a documentary really. It compromises itself from the start and therefore it has absolutely no cutting edge. Sure , it gives you some insight into what goes on with companies and how much they are willing to pay to get their products on screen but that is not enough to keep an audience engaged.

Spurlock has a likable air about him but I'm not convinced he is movie maker at all. The title should be reported to the trade descriptions people as it's not great and it's not a movie and i certainly never bought into it.

Having taken on the McDonald's diet in "Super Size Me", Morgan Spurlock now turns to advertising. "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" is a look at product placement, completely funded by product placements. Much of the documentary features Spurlock asking people about how product placement works, as well as inquiring about the ethics of it. The big surprise to me is just how prevalent product placement is (you're going to be hard-pressed to find a Hollywood movie that doesn't feature it).

Since a lot of the documentary features talking heads -- among them Noam Chomsky and Quentin Tarantino -- it's a little repetitive at times, but it's mostly a good look at the extent to which commercialism saturates our lives. And very funny every step of the way! And remember: always drink POM!

Futurama had an episode that submitted in the year 3000 advertisers will be able to send signals in the air that put commercials into people's dreams. Funny that Ralph Nader mentions sleep as the last place you can go to escape ads. In today's world, they're pervasive. It's a good topic for an amusing and entertaining filmmaker (Morgan Spurlock, who previously had success with his anti-fast food pic Super Size Me). Much as with Super Size Me, Spurlock pulls a stunt; this documentary is funded by product placement.

There are certain limitations inherent in such a project. Make a film against product placement, and the worst offenders will not want to help it. In the end he mostly finds businesses I've never heard of (Ban, Sheetz). So we don't see how the bigger corporations go about product placement. That said, we see a bit of how it works, as Spurlock's sponsors send him contracts making various demands.

At times it seems this movie is more about itself than product placement generally, but we do have some good discussions spread throughout the film. It is true blatant advertising is insulting, yet the film poses the question of whether subtle advertising is more dangerous. The presentation is funny, including with the Mane 'n Tail material. (Why didn't that company pay for the publicity? They even got a Wikipedia page because of this movie). The film has some good music and I can testify that it looks great on Blu-ray. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold may not be the greatest documentary, but it's worth a look.