American Cannibal: The Road to Reality (2006)
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64% of critics liked it
(25 reviews) -
53% of users liked it
(1,597 ratings)
Originally conceived as an instructional video on how to conduct pitch meetings, American Cannibal: The Road to Reality gradually evolved into something far darker. Documentary filmmakers Perry Grebin and Michael Nigro follow aspiring TV writers Gil S. Ripley and Dave Roberts as their failed Comedy… More Originally conceived as an instructional video on how to conduct pitch meetings, American Cannibal: The Road to Reality gradually evolved into something far darker. Documentary filmmakers Perry Grebin and Michael Nigro follow aspiring TV writers Gil S. Ripley and Dave Roberts as their failed Comedy Central pilot leads them to try their hand at reality TV. They start out pitching a show about N.Y.C. firefighter trainees at Randall's Island, but eventually decide that they have to push the envelope and come up with something that has more of an edge. They wind up at the office of Kevin Blatt, best known for marketing the Paris Hilton sex tapes, and pitching a show called "Virgin Territory," in which several male contestants, all virgins, compete for the opportunity to lose their virginity to a porn star. Blatt responds positively, but upon reflection, he prefers an idea that Ripley mentioned in passing, pretty much as a joke, for a show called "American Cannibal," wherein contestants would be put on a remote island and deprived of food to the point of starvation, presumably to see which of them would be willing to resort to cannibalism. Ripley and Roberts have qualms about it, but it's Blatt's money, so they begin developing the show, with disastrous results. Grebin and Nigro intercut this narrative with interviews with reality show veterans like Dr. Richard Levak, Jon Murray, and The Daily Show's Lizz Winstead, who discuss the phenomenon of reality TV. The filmmakers appear to be blurring the line between reality and fiction, and rumors have circulated as to the authenticity of their story. American Cannibal: The Road to Reality had its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, in the NY, NY Documentary Competition. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
- Directed By
- Perry Grebin, Michael Nigro
- Genres
- Documentary, Television, Special Interest
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Mar 16, 2006 Wide
- On DVD
- Sep 11, 2007
Critic Reviews
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Michael Ordoņa, Los Angeles Times
The real savagery is in the satire, coldly measuring the lengths to which contestants might go and the depths to which the protagonists sink.
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Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
Reality television is painful enough to watch at home, let alone on the big screen, but directors Perry Grebin and Michael Nigro somehow didn't get the message.
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Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
To the film's credit, it's finally a whistle-blower on unsafe shooting practices, not unsafe dining habits.
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Stephen Holden, New York Times
Until everything collapses, and the filmmakers are left grasping at straws, it's absorbing in a sick way.
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Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
What's here is a glimpse not into how far people will go to win a reality-TV show, but how far greedy writers and producers will go to degrade, debauch and enrich themselves.
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