Morgan Spurlock's 'Mansome' a disappointing foray into male grooming

Morgan Spurlock's latest documentary, Mansome, will go down as one of the director's lesser works. Spurlock's non-fiction films are usually full of laughs and quirky insights.  At the Tribeca Film Festival screening I attended, I heard only a smattering of chuckles. Compare that to his product placement movie, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, which had me doubled over in laughter from start to finish. Mansome rarely goes beyond clichés, a real disappointment for Spurlock's fans, including myself.

Ostensibly about male grooming, Mansome mainly focuses on beards and mustaches, with some commentary on back hair thrown in. Spurlock also intercuts the story with a "day at the spa" sequence featuring Jason Bateman and Will Arnett joking around in facial masques. Spurlock now has the cachet to attract big stars from rock bands and famous bearded folk like Zach Galifianakis and Judd Apatow, but they don't add that much to the story. By relying on celebrities to do the heavy lifting and make jokes, Spurlock misses an opportunity to explore his subject beyond the easy punchlines. I also noticed that Ben Silverman, who Spurlock named as a tireless advocate of product placement in The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, has an executive producer credit in the film, going from being a corporate enemy to a co-producer. Perhaps he's responsible for the segment on the product "Fresh Balls," which aims to solve dampness issues in men's groins.

There's so much to say about male grooming from a cultural perspective, but Spurlock barely scratches the surface. Aside from a few comments from a sociologist, he never gets into the "whys" behind male grooming trends or delves into the social signaling behind a scruffy beard or waxed eyebrows. He also doesn't include any gay perspectives in the documentary. Certainly a segment of the gay community takes grooming very seriously. I've heard the argument before that put-together gay men have influenced straight men to step up their own approach to male grooming, but Spurlock doesn't address this or any other interplay between straight and gay grooming.

He does tackle one illuminating subject: male wrestlers. The epitome of a certain kind of masculinity, these pro wrestlers shave their bodies completely, tan, and focus immensely on the size and appearance of their muscular bodies. It's the kind of vain attention most men avoid admitting to, yet their manliness is never in question.

Mansome's failure to tackle subjects of gender, masculinity, and sexual orientation are only accented by the film's lack of historical perspective. Certainly male grooming was a preoccupation of the likes of Louis XIV and his contemporaries, who wore wigs and high heels. Vague, obvious references to male grooming occurring since the "beginning of time" or allusions to a long history of beard-growing do little to provide this historical perspective. The documentary jumps around without providing a thesis to tie things together. Spurlock's name recognition could give Mansome decent play on-demand or via Netflix, but it's unlikely to have more than a cursory theatrical release.

Morgan Spurlock strikes again with 'POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold'

By Sarah Sluis

I was a little confused by the concept of Morgan Spurlock's latest film, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. But perhaps because of the "brand" Spurlock has created with his fun yet socially relevant documentary Super Size Me, I enthusiastically signed up for a screening. I wasn't disappointed.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is a documentary about product placement in movies that's funded entirely by product placement. The very pitch he gives to companies asking them to participate ends up in the movie as its "product placement," which led Jimmy Kimmel to compare the doc to Inception in one segment. So why would a company pay to be in a documentary that reveals they paid to be there? Transparency. Revealing a marketing plan shows respect for consumers, who don't want to feel duped by misleading ads. Then there's the opportunity to be associated with the "Morgan Spurlock brand." As he learns in a market research session conducted using psychoanalysis, Spurlock embraces fear and uncomfortable situations, and his brand is "mindful and playful." He ends up signing up Ban, POM, Merrell shoes, Mini Cooper, and, my personal favorite, Mane 'n Tail shampoo (an equine shampoo that crossed over to the human market), in a long and sometimes fruitless search. Spurlock takes particular delight in showing off his rejections, which are some of the movie's more amusing moments.

I've seen a lot of comedies at film screenings, but I've never seen an audience laugh as frequently and loudly as they did for this movie. It was often out of pure ridiculousness. After signing on POM as a sponsor, everyone ends up nonchalantly drinking the juice during interviews, and seeing the brand perched at a corner of the screen was so obvious it was hilarious. There's also a funny moment where Ralph Nader gets a little too excited about the Merrell shoes he's been gifted, which unwittingly turns him into a commercial pitchman.

Though the intent was to show the ins and outs of product placement, Spurlock covers so much that he often only skims the surface. There are also brands that signed on (like Seventh Generation, which sells eco-friendly cleaning products) that we don't see in the movie at all, except in advertisments. What happened there? The interviews with media heavyweights like Noam Chomsky, too, are often reduced only to soundbites. A comprehensive dissection of product placement and its implications may not have been possible, but Spurlock also strays off target, flying to Sao Paolo (perhaps taking advantage of a free JetBlue flight and stay at the Hyatt Regency?) to interview people about the city's ban on outdoor advertising. But these are quibbles. It's as much of a job of a documentary to raise questions as it is to answer them.

At the screening I saw last night in New York, we exited the theatre, only to be greeted by neat stacks of the products featured in the movie. As I helped myself to some POM juice and Mane 'n Tail shampoo, I couldn't help but feel that the sponsorship worked. I might have felt ridiculous using an equine shampoo before, but now I think I'll have a little chuckle as I lather up in the shower, marveling that I use a product that has instructions both for human and animal use. The in-movie commercial where Spurlock is washing up in a giant bathtub next to his son and a Shetland pony didn't hurt either.