Starsuckers

Blasting the popular-press fame machine may be like using a sledgehammer to go after a buzzing fly, but British filmmaker Chris Atkins aspires to present a big-picture POV, charging that tabloid-sleaze gossip, publicity-stunt PR, and manufactured stars and idols are tools used by powerful and amoral multinational corporations to sway public opinion, set policy agendas, and, most of all, “make you buy stuff” on a massive scale. We see an American child performer shuttled by his parents on a relentless circuit of auditions and media ops; but the main focus here is on the star-struck British press, where Fleet Street prints salacious falsehoods, illegally buys medical records, and stages nonevents (all-star African charity concerts apparently do little good, except for the pop-idol biz). While names like Jade Goody and Sarah Harding may not resonate with American viewers (many, however, will recognize Simon Cowell), we're told that the U.S. media, having cut back their staffs, routinely parrots U.K. sources, and that showbiz guttersnipes in Britain have found even bigger careers later, spinning angles for political parties and the government. Interviewees here include Fame Junkies author Jake Halpern, talking about the evolutionary role of celebrity and how advertising endorsements pervert it. DVD extras include a “making-of” featurette, and bonus interview clips with Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Keira Knightley, and others. Although made before Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation phone-hacking scandal, Starsuckers offers a solid exposé of the darker side of celebrity-and-sensationalism-obsessed popular media. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)