What Could Have Been... "I Am Santa Claus"

I Am Santa Claus (2014)

Rated R

Starring Mick Foley, Russell Spice, Jim Stevenson, Santa Claus,

Directed by Tommy Avallone

The Story:

A year in the life of several bearded Santas. Share in their adventures as they count down to the biggest day of their lives, and learn why they do it, and keep the persona,  in many cases, all year round.

This one just seemed like a natural fit for me to watch.

Christmas.
Mick Foley.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, for starters, this documentary presented by Morgan Spurlock rolls into town with an R rating.

So here comes my soapbox:

If you're going to do a documentary about several men who love to be Santa Claus, and they talk about the joy and special feeling to see a child's eyes light up when they talk to them...

Why, oh why, would you make an R rated documentary?

It's not even for the language, though one Santa goes on a profane (drunken) tirade.

No, it seems that it was to include a gay Santa who likes to pose for men and a mentioned just enough to ensure they got an R rating,  President of the Santa Association who is a known swinger.

:: sigh ::

So I'm stuck with a documentary about how cool it is to dress up as Santa to make kids happy, and I can't show it to kids.

Brilliant marketing.

: /

For the most part though, the lives of the Santas are all interesting enough, and Mick Foley is always entertaining.

I would have liked to have enjoyed it more than I did.

I would recommend the superior Becoming Santa documentary instead for the whole family.


Ah well...

Available for streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: C/C+ range

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Once was plenty.

This Review for Sale... "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold"

This review typed on an Apple iMac, posted to Blogspot, hyperlinked to Facebook, and available to rent from Netflix or purchase from Amazon...


The Story:

Morgan Spurlock returns with a documentary about product placement in the movies.  His endeavor is to see if he can raise $1.5 million dollars to cover the production budget of his entire documentary.

Ingenious, and entertaining.

Spurlock's toughest sell was convincing companies to sponsor his movie.

How do you offer products, services or money to a documentary that will only be seen by a niche viewing market instead of a Hollywood blockbuster?

But with perseverance and his usual charm, he pitches to everyone and lands the money.

Pom. Mini. JetBlue. Sheetz. Not a huge conglomeration of sponsors, but enough to get his movie made, and to make his point.

The documentary documents the whole process, and becomes the lions share of the film.


I actually tried Pom just because of their participation in the film, otherwise I would never have bought it.  So well done, product placement works!

Amusingly, towards the end of the film, Spurlock gets a call about making another documentary that would become Mansome.  The opportunity is too great to pass up, and the true selling out begins.

It's a very interesting look at advertising in Hollywood, and recommended.

Final Grade: B

Would I Own It: Probably not, but I could watch it again if it ever streams on Netflix.

Let's Get Hairy! "Mansome"

How manly are you?


The Story:

This documentary takes a look at men.  How manly are we? What do beards, moustaches and constant grooming say about men as a whole? 


Unlike Morgan Spurlock's usual documentaries, this one plays more as a star-filled comedy documentary.

You have Jason Bateman and Will Arnett doing some schtick at a health spa to break up the segments within the documentary.  I guess when you sign up as Executive Producers, you get what you want, though their bits are too long, and not nearly as funny as they should be, or as they probably think they were.

Then you have the following interviewed:

Judd Apatow
Adam Carolla
Zach Galifianakis
Paul Rudd

So this isn't man in the street territory.

The documentary itself is also a bit uneven in presentation.  Spurlock is heavily invested and seen in the first segment (moustaches) and then completely disappears for the rest of the film.  Odd to say the least, and so unlike any other documentary that I've seen him present.

The second segment on beards is overly long, painfully paced, and stars a guy that really is hard to care about since his only passion in life is having a great beard...but when you stack him against the competition at beard competitions (really???) his beard just doesn't look that great.  It's simply long.

It picks up again after that with showing what wrestlers have to endure to basically be completely shaved to do their jobs correctly.  Man, that's got to suck.

Then it gets an overlong metrosexual finale with perhaps the vainest "man" on the planet.  Likely not, but again, like the beard, too long, and the character much less interesting.


It's amusing at times, and indeed an interesting topic.

However when you average out the great with the so-so...

Final Grade: C
Would I Own It: Nah, I'm good.


Available for streaming on Netflix as of this writing.