REVIEW: POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

MOVIE
POM Wonderful Presents:
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

CAST
Morgan Spurlock

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
April 22, 2011

DIRECTOR
Morgan Spurlock

STUDIO
Sony Pictures Classics

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 27 minutes




STARS
****








REVIEW:

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is exactly what it is. That may not sound like much, but just allow me to explain. This film, from Morgan Spurlock, the director of the acclaimed Super Size Me is attempting to make a movie about advertising, while selling sponsorship funds to various companies for advertising bits in this movie. Companies like Sheetz, MovieTickets.com, and POM Wonderful all paid to be in this movie. That's how this entire movie was funded, and that's how this movie was made. This film is about the making of the film that's being presented on screen. This sin't the usual type of movie I would pay to see, but I'm glad I did. Even though it took me a half hour and my grandfather's company to get to see this movie, it all paid off in the end. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is pure excellency. I couldn't stop laughing at some of the gags that Mr. Spurlock showed on screen. I laughed, I learned, and I loved this movie.

This movie isn't just a documentary, it's also a fantastic comedy. I laughed in this movie as much as I do in any Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler comedy. Mr. Spurlock is a gifted director, and a gifted comedian, making us laugh with the in-movie commercials and commercial ideas he gives companies like Sheetz and POM Wonderful. The audience in my movie, which might have been around 15-20 people, was also laughing very hard at the in jokes presented. I couldn't stop laughing at some moments, because Spurlock really knows how to entertain his audience. I believe that this is a movie for regular movie goers who enjoy comedies. Just go into this movie and think of it as a comedy with true facts.

It's amazing to think that we are persuaded by companies to buy their products without even knowing it. In an experiment that Morgan did in the movie, he was put in a "Clockwork Orange" stage where he was presented with three types of scenes: horror, comedy, and sex. In the end, Morgan had the strong urge to have a bottle of Coke. This was fascinating to me because humans buy many things everyday, most of the time because they are persuaded to without even realizing it. We as humans watch too many movies and television shows, so we get ideas of buying or seeing things implanted into our brains without even taking notice of it. Why do you think that when you see a Marvel movie like Iron Man or Thor, you see so many product placements for Burger King and Dr. Pepper? Because those companies pay to be featured in the movie, with the assumption that people will be influenced to buy their products. Unfortunately, this has worked for a long time, and won't be stopping any time soon. This movie, like Super Size Me is a gift to America. This is teaching America about what is going on behind the doors of businesses. We are being brainwashed by corperate businesses, and this movie is just the arrow pointing this out.

Whoever is over the age of 12 and hasn't seen Super Size Me should be out at the local video store as we speak. I had to watch Super Size Me for a 6th grade health class, and I loved it, despite seeing a very graphic surgery and orange vomit. (Ewww) The best part about my experience of that movie was that my entire class was really into it. They were absorbed into this realistically funny story, like they should've been. Now this movie comes along, and nobody has even heard of it. This is disappointing to me as a critic because I'm supposed to guide people to great movies and keep them away from the crappy ones. I want everyone who loved Super Size Me, and just documentaries in general to see this movie. This is possibly one of the best things playing out there right now, yet I don't exactly know how many theatres are left showing this movie in the country. It's not just the fact that this movie has been in theaters for more than a month, but the movie was just never popular among the movie-going crowd. The movie was only at the closest indie movie theater for two weeks before it was pulled. That's why I had to go all the way to Philadelphia (a half hour drive) to see this movie. And while it was worth it, I still wish that more people got to experience this movie. I hope it does better on DVD, at least.

Whoever is near a theater playing this movie should really go out and see this movie. This is THE documentary to see this year. I'd guess that this movie is out of most theaters by now, so I'd suggest seeing this movie when it comes out on DVD. I think that this movie will obtain a strong cult following, kind of like comedies like Bill & Ted and The Big Lebowski. Spurlock won't obtain the status that Jeff Bridges got when he played "The Dude," but he will obtain status as one of the best documentary film directors in recent history. I can't wait to see what he thinks of next. And believe me, I will be one of the first people in line to catch that movie. Who knows, maybe it will be about what makes people get interested in a particular movie. We may have to wait a couple of years to see that movie. So for now, do yourself a favor and check out POM Wonderful Presents: The greatest Movie Ever Sold.



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