Product: Startup.Com (2001)
Rating: 2.0
Ego vehicle or Infomercial?
Although it is not a good movie it is a lot of fun to watch the whole artificial thing fail. Vanity and greed are the orders of the day, culminating in the moment when KIT has his "best friend from college" (read: poor trusting sap) fired and escorted out by security.Calling this a "documentary" is only partly true; the crew were friends of the stars and they (KIT & Tom) are rumored to have been paid handsomely for their performance. So much for artistic integrity. Right off the bat you'll smell a rat as many of the scenes really feel "acted". Note the scene where KIT coaches his team on how to appear on a Spanish TV broadcast (a gig he apparently got because his girlfriend was on their staff.. or is this why he dated her in the first place?) People act differently when they know they are on camera... good documentary makers know this and generally overcome this; their subjects appear natural. Many scenes in "startup" have an artificial "I know I'm on camera... everybody watch what I'm going to do/say now!" feel.I enjoy the parallels between the movie and the company.. they are both focused on image over substance and both fail because of it. The company's product is late to the market and (apparently) not nearly the quality of its competitors. This movie focuses on KIT instead of the company and ultimately fails due to its lack of substance. There are many, many better made documentaries. Save your own Venture Capital and go rent something else. (=