What Gives, Mr. Spurlock?

Written by: Russell Davidson, CC2K Sports Editor

Just who does filmmaker/documentarian Morgan Spurlock think he is? Is he the guy that made Super Size Me, the entertaining and informative doc on what happens when you eat nothing but McDonalds food? Is he the guy that made Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden ?, a film no one saw about a dude he never found?

Is he the guy that made the tv show 30 Days, where people tried on different lives, a public service of a sort? Or is he the guy that just came out with POM Presents: The Greatest Story Ever Sold, an ego-trip of a movie that isn’t actually a movie at all?

I guess he’s all these things. And while I do admire some of his earlier stuff, this new one is a disaster, an hour-and-a-half commercial for Spurlock, an hour-and-a-half of him being very amused with himself for very little reason.

The subject matter of POM Presents could have been interesting, if done differently. Or if done, at all. It’s supposed to be about product placement in the movies. Now, he coulda given us a brief history of this phenomena, how it got started, how products got into movies, who paid for what, who influenced whom. He could have touched on subliminal advertising. There’s a movie there. What Spurlock has done, though, is to spend the whole time, the whole entire time, trying to raise money for his film, thereby funding the movie about product placement with product placement. Now, this would have been a good place to start, but it’s all he’s got. There is literally nothing else.

Well, then, is it at least amusing? Spurlock must think so, but the viewer sure won’t. Ralph Nader has the one, single good line. Is it informative? Spurlock must think so, but the viewer sure won’t. The only part worth mentioning is when he goes to Sao Paulo, a city that has outlawed outdoor advertising, no billboards, no neon, nothing, and it’s amazing to see how much difference that can make to the vibe of a place. Americans should take note of our optical pollution saturation, and how it affects us. This is the lone worthwhile bit in POM Presents.

A documentary is only as good as the subject matter it tackles. Surely, bad docs have been made of worthwhile topics, but try finding a good one based on a dead-in-the-water set-up. And that’s just what Spurlock has given us. He may have some point to make, that advertising in movies is BAD, but he never really makes it, and anyway, is it bad, really? Does anyone actually care? Heck, I always prefer to see real products in movies, ‘cause it’s what people use in real life. Why is this such an outrage to Spurlock?

Couldn’t tell ya.

Nice try, I guess, Morgan, but next time, give us some meat on the bone, ok?
You running around begging for money does not a movie make. Maybe you should go back to your roots. How ‘bout eating nothing but Burger King for a year?

And the worst thing, even worse than this dull dull dull movie? The $50 parking ticket I got outside the theater.

I’ll be billing Spurlock for that.

Parking meter readers. Hmmmm. Now THERE’S a documentary.