The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011–90 mins) Morgan Spurlock Documentary

I have quite mixed feelings about documentaries. Generally they are interesting when well done, and SHOULD show all views of a certain subject to give you all the information. That, or be about a subject that doesn’t have different views. However, you have more often then not, filmmakers who take the documentary and make it a journalistic piece of crap. Take anything made by the anti-american piece of crap Michael Moore. He is the prime example of what happens when you give a moron a camera and an ajenda. You see his work and he takes a normal statement from people and cuts it to pieces and pieces together what he wants you to see so that the message is the complete opposite of the intended message, as well as completely falsifying any and all messages. Basically sensationalism in filming to make a buck and trying to make a bigger name for himself.

I kinda don’t want to put Morgan Spurlock into that same category, but his claim to fame is a sensationalist piece tho. He made his name making “Super Size Me”. So while I think that doc is kinda crap, he does have some other good works. I won’t fault him 100% for using one sell out sensationalist exaggeration fest to make a name for himself. In “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” Spurlock is taking us inside the world of advertising/ product placement in movie making. He films every step from idea for the movie to execution of pitching it to product owners and businesses. He has some narration and some comedic takes of the process and genuinely seems like he’s actually learning something of the process as he goes along. He gets some bumps in the road, he has some successes and eventually seems like he gets it all paid for.

The doc starts off highly interesting and keeps you into it. However, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through it starts to get a bit boring. Not sure what it is, same old same old or just not very thrilling but it grinds to a halt. Luckily he finds his way right before then end, gets us re-interested and thus finishes on a high note. I gotta say it was pretty interesting to watch it all tho, and I think people who enjoy any sort of documentary would enjoy this. Even people who might not enjoy docs should check it out b/c he has a nice comedic wit about him as well as a knack for producing docs. I think he got to a point where he felt it was enough and seemed to just end abruptly, which was a shame since it was at the point where he just got me back interested in the whole thing, but the positive here is he leaves you wanting more which is good b/c it leaves you with a positive taste in your mouth. Just b/c of how much I loathe the type of sensationalism “Super Size Me” was I don’t think I will or would ever pay money to see one of his (or almost any for that matter) documentaries in the theater, but this is a good pick for the Red Box.

Verdict–> You don’t need to be a documentary  lover but it certainly helps. I wouldn’t get this to watch by it self but if you watch this before you watch another movie then you will be fine. A good film by a decently interesting  filmmaker. I would recommend this to just about anyone.

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