Morgan Spurlock’s documentary “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” is an up-close look into the world of product placement in pop culture and the advertising firms and companies that make it happen.
Throughout the film, you watch him bounce from business to business pitching the exact film you’re watching. What’s it about? He doesn’t really know. Nobody really knows. Yet, not surprisingly, he’s able to round up some serious cash to throw around for a movie that has no plot, no actors, and is made up entirely of his meetings to pitch the movie.
The film reminds me of the NBC show Seinfeld in that it’s a movie about nothing; and it works.
When the film is over you will say, “That’s it? That’s the film?” Yes. You just witnessed the logos and heard the brand names of the exact products that the companies wanted to place in a movie that plays out like nothing more than a really long and jumbled commercial. That’s exactly what the companies paid for.
However, it’s not like watching a commercial at all. Commercials infiltrate your television and brain with the utmost subtlety. So rarely will they say, “This is an advertisement” unless it’s political or for a lawyer. In Spurlock’s film, he makes it very clear you’re watching something meant to advertise to you, and for some reason this makes the feature film length commercial pretty bearable.
Although, there are some pretty hilarious moments in the film. Spurlock finds some shampoo that works for both humans and horses and makes a pretty humorous call to the company headquarters to see if they’re interested in sponsoring the film. Equally funny are his (shot down) commercial pitches for ways to advertise a product.
The trailer is included in this article to give you a feel for exactly what is going on–to my knowledge nobody has ever made a similar form of documentary. If you want to watch an interesting and different form of documentary, I suggest watching this film–but don’t expect it to be too similar to Spurlock’s wildly popular Super Size Me.
2.5/5
