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Mansome

Mansome (2012)

May. 18,2012
|
5.4
| Documentary

From America's greatest beardsman, to Morgan Spurlock's own mustache, Executive Producers Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Ben Silverman bring us a hilarious look at men's identity in the 21st century. Models, actors, experts and comedians weigh in on what it is to be a man in a world where the definition of masculinity has become as diverse as a hipster's facial hair in Williamsburg. The hilarious follicles of men's idiosyncratic grooming habits are thoroughly combed over as men finally take a long hard look in the mirror.

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Fairaher
2012/05/18

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

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Jenna Walter
2012/05/19

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

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Aiden Melton
2012/05/20

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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Zlatica
2012/05/21

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

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kyrat
2012/05/22

The construction of masculinity is interesting to me and it really could have been explored. However, instead of spending more time with people like Michael Kimmel (professor) who study gender, they seemed to feel they should spend more time showing random quotes from B or C list celebrities whose opinions I don't care about.The fact that some irritatingly chauvinist guy from "the man show" thinks women are emasculating men - or the lead singer of Antthrax thinking that waxing is 'gay'... fine, that's their personal viewpoint, which they have every right to (much as I may disagree). What saddened me was they each got got as much airtime as the expert in gender roles. The saving grace of this film was the time spent with some of the subjects. They were interesting, but also quite sad.Jack Passion, the beard guy, was an interesting person - but he seemed to have nothing in his life except his beard competitions.Shawn, who plays an "evil Arab" wrestling character demonizing his culture - has to shave his entire body and sculpt his body to achieve an unrealistic standard.Ricky, the attractive Indian guy who was ashamed to be Sikh and has internalized the same kind of body hatred that many women have. He is a beautiful man with wonderful family and a strong tradition that he has felt he had to "overcome" and admits to never being satisfied.I wish they had cut the celebrity clips and really dived more into this subject. The ever changing standards of masculinity, the ever increasing focus on men's bodies and the growing insecurities that parallel women's beauty standards is a fascinating topic. I hope someone else takes up this idea again because it deserves to be done well.

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gavin6942
2012/05/23

A documentary that explores the question: In the age of manscaping, metrosexuals, and grooming products galore - what does it mean to be a man? Morgan Spurlock is not putting on his best show here, and I think it might be because this film is drowning in celebrities (though this can possibly be explained by the producing of Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Ben Stiller -- the first two being great hosts).I like that the idea of mustache = pedophile was brought up, though some people pull it off (such as John Waters). How something fashionable in the 1970s or 1980s could today (2014) be so wrong is amazing, and the transition in popular culture would be worth exploring.I also really liked the scene with the wrestler shaving. I am not quite as hair as he is, but I can relate.The staff of the The A.V. Club named it one of the worst movies of 2012, criticizing it as "absolutely insufferable, a shabby excuse for a documentary that sadistically stretches to feature length a premise that would barely support a two-minute short." This is going much too far, though I confess much of it came off as fluff without any real substance.

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BlindMan-11
2012/05/24

Was Justin Bateman kidding? This was more like a school project for summer. The filming and editing was so amateur that I do wonder who he got to hold and focus (if it was even a person doing it and not a chimp) is beyond me.The subject was interesting but it went nowhere. It is more like a teenage boys hangup with hair and then balding men's hangup with the lack of hair. My God, it was all about hair and then it went on and on with each subject about their hair.This was painful to watch but I do give each movie the full chance so I do watch from the beginning to the end.To make this a good movie it should be just the opening credits and the closing credits and leave out all the foolishness in between.Justin, come on man - are you on crack? The only good line in the movie was - Back, Sac and Crack...

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Steve Pulaski
2012/05/25

Morgan Spurlock's new documentary, Mansome, explores the touchy subject of masculinity and what it means to be a man in the twenty-first century. He asks the very general question, and then searches around Hollywood to gather interviews from people like Adam Carolla, Zach Galifianakis, and John Waters to weigh in on their opinions of manliness. Considering that Spurlock has made documentaries previously on eating McDonalds for thirty days straight, finding Osama Bin Laden, funding a film using product placement and advertising, showcasing four different people who plan to make it big at San Diego Comic-Con, and even created a show where subjects live in others' shoes for thirty days, this isn't too far out in left field for him.Spurlock is a gifted documentarian, with a talent for creating the most interesting documentary topics and fueling his films with humor and substance. But Mansome isn't always as insightful or as interesting as it could be. The film has an idea, but struggles to build off of it, and what we're left with is an overgeneralized question, numerous chapters detailing small parts of that question, and a countless number of interviews that seem to be aiming for the witty aspect rather than the factual one clearly at hand. We get opinions every now and then, but actors like Galifianakis and Paul Rudd seem to be trying to come up with the best line to say rather than the best answer.There's also a rather oddly placed subplot, involving Arrested Development co-stars, Will Arnett and Jason Bateman, spending a day at the spa, being pampered, massaged, and bathed in lotion while discussing what it means to be a man. While the idea is cute and genial, this feels, again, too focused on providing the documentary with fluffy comedy rather than statistics, facts, and opinions.Probably the most interesting part of the film is when we learn about Jack Passion, a championship "bearder" who has traveled across the world, partaking in the sport of beard-building or "bearding." The sport part is growing the beard, and how you win is by showing it off to people. I'm reminded of when I had a debate with my friends about whether or not birding or bird-watching was a sport before seeking out The Big Year, a film centered around it. After much thought, I settled on the idea that birding was a sport. I'm not sure about bearding, however. But if it is, Passion can be considered the Babe Ruth of "bearding," winning many first place titles, world titles, and even traveling to a beard/mustache convention in England.One topic that I desperately wish the film would've centered more on is the idea of metrosexual behavior in males and how it could quickly transcend into blatant narcissism. One interviewer makes the statement that many do not know what the word means. In a nutshell, it basically refers to males who over-compensate their appearance by the littlest of things, such as every hair on their eyebrows and mustache must be properly combed and straightened, their belt and shoes need to match, they must not have one piece of lint on them, etc. It's basically obsessive compulsive dressing.We touch on this subject briefly at the end, but not as long as we spend on the idea of bearding and mustaches, which is a shame. Also, the film neglects to show how the pretty-boy image could've been influenced by actors and singers like Orlando Bloom, Justin Bieber, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Since many women find them attractive, do we try and model ourselves after them? And never do we touch on the idea of tattoos and body-ink as a form of expressing ourselves and how those have a positive or negative impact on our image.Mansome is a nice little venture in the idea of masculinity, the increasing or decreasing idea of "manliness," and overall, what makes "a man" in the first place. The problems lie from the lack of mature interviews, with many of the subjects cracking jokes rather than discussing their true opinions, the time we spend learning about petty things that are needless and unimportant, and how the film just appears dis-interesting at times. But as of now, it is probably the best film we have on the subject.Starring: Morgan Spurlock, Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Adam Carolla, Paul Rudd, and Zach Galifianakis. Directed by: Morgan Spurlock.

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