The greatest movie ever sold - Blu-Ray

Content: It's no secret that movies and TV series are financed by sometimes more, sometimes less obvious advertising. Cars, cell phones, soft drinks, computers, watches, fast food chains, airlines, not only in the US large and small companies place ads for their products. Even if the viewer is often not even aware of it, there is hardly a movie, show, music video or TV series that is not used as an advertising platform. But who actually decides which product is placed in which film and how? How much money do companies pay for product placement and what influence does the advertising industry have on Hollywood? Questions that filmmaker Morgan Spurlock explores in his latest documentary The greatest movie ever sold in his usual entertaining way.

After Spurlock has already messed with the fast food industry in Super Size Me, he now turns his attention to advertising. And for that, he's come up with something pretty special: he wants to make a movie that's 100% financed by product placement. The film features Spurlock's efforts to find sponsors and convince them that their advertising in his film could add appropriate value to their product. Unsurprisingly, the big companies turn him down. But what Spurlock finds out about advertising in conversations with representatives of smaller and also bigger companies is highly interesting, partly wonderfully funny, but also a little frightening.

As in his other films, Spurlock again puts himself at the center of the action here, which can be seen as both negative and positive. The negative is that it makes the film lack objectivity and depth, and in some scenes the documentary feels more like a comedy than a serious documentary. But while this is a bit of a shame, considering the potential of this subject matter, which Spurlock is only able to touch on superficially due to the staging he chooses. On the other hand, his omnipresence in the film is also the most positive aspect of The greatest movie ever sold. For Spurlock, due to his fame in the USA, is something of a brand himself, by whose popularity and image a certain value for potential sponsors can naturally be measured. Through Spurlock's self-promotion, the viewer gains insights into the mechanisms of the advertising industry that a normal documentary probably could not have offered in this form.

When filmmakers like J.J. Abrams, Quentin Tarantino or Peter Berg talk about their views on product placement or a long-time expert reveals that it is not uncommon for scripts to be changed at the insistence of sponsors, then you, especially as a film lover, can't stop laughing and after watching the documentary you start to see films and series with completely different eyes. But even if there are always statements about which you can only shake your head in amazement or which scare you a little as a simple consumer, The greatest movie ever sold is first and foremost an extremely entertaining film that can be warmly recommended to viewers who already liked Super Size Me and to anyone who is interested in product placement. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The technical realization is on a very good level for a documentary. The picture is absolutely clean and has very good overall sharpness in the quieter moments. If the camera is in motion, there are here and there small dragging effects and deductions in the detail representation, but this is really not further negative noticeable in this genre. The German audio track is dominated by the voice-over commentary overlaying the original audio, which sounds very powerful from the speakers. There are also some effective surround effects here and there that add some movement to the tonal proceedings. For a documentary, this is more than satisfactory. Good!

Extras: The Blu-ray still has plenty of bonus material to offer. In addition to a very lively, entertaining as well as interesting audio commentary by Morgan Spurlock, producer Jeremy Chilnick, editor Thomas M. Vogt and cinematographer Daniel Marracino, the cut scenes (approx. 49 min.) are the centerpiece of the extras. Admittedly, some of these extra moments were rightly removed from the finished film, as they don't really offer any new information and would have slowed down the pace tremendously. But taken on their own, there are one or two very amusing and interesting scenes to be discovered here, which is why watching this extra is absolutely worthwhile.

Furthermore, the viewer can accompany Morgan Spurlock on his visit to the Sundance Film Festival (approx. 14 min.), can watch the full-length commercials integrated into the film (approx. 4 min.) and take a look at the shooting of the POM (approx. 4 min.), Hyatt and JetBlue commercials (approx. 5 min.). Plus, there's the trailer for the film and a dokBuster trailer show. Good!

Conclusion: The greatest movie ever sold is an amusing look behind the scenes of the advertising industry, which lacks a certain seriousness, but provides extremely good entertainment with a fairly high information content. If you already liked Super Size Me or are interested in product placement, you should definitely not miss this amusing documentary. The handle to the Blu-Ray is worthwhile not only because of the decent technical implementation, but also because of the good bonus material, where especially the audio commentary and the almost 50 minutes of cut scenes are recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp