Big Boys Gone Bananas!*
  • Studio: WG Film
  • Release Date: Jul 27, 2012
Big Boys Gone Bananas!* Image
See the trailer
Metascore
54 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 6 Critics What's this?

User Score
tbd

No user score yet- Awaiting 3 more ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • Summary: What is a big corporation capable of doing in order to protect its brand? Recently, Swedish documentary filmmaker Fredrik Gertten experienced this personally. His previous film BANANAS!* recounts the lawsuit that 12 Nicaraguan plantation workers successfully brought against the fruit giant Dole Food Company. That film was selected for
    competition by the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival. Nothing wrong so far, right? But then just before leaving Sweden to attend the Los Angeles world premiere of his film, Gertten gets a strange message: the festival has decided to remove Bananas!* from competition.
    Then, a scathing, controversial and misinformed article appears on the cover of the Los Angeles Business Journal about the film a week before the premiere. And subsequently, Gertten receives a letter from Dole's attorneys threatening legal action if the film is shown at this festival and to cease and desist. What follows is an unparalleled story that Gertten captured on film. He filmed this entire process of corporate bullying and media spin - from DOLE attacking the producers with a defamation lawsuit, utilizing scare tactics, to media-control and PR-spin. Big Boys Gone Bananas!* can be seen as a thriller and a cautionary tale. But, mostly this is a personal story about what happened to Gertten, as a documentary filmmaker and to his company and how the livelihood of documentary filmmakers can be easily put into jeopardy. (WG Film)    … Collapse
  • Director: Fredrik Gertten
  • Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Documentary, News
  • Rating: Not Rated
  • Runtime: 90 min
  • More Details and Credits »

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Budd Wilkins
    Jul 25, 2012
    63
    The issue remains that this variety of faux-populism seems better suited to the soapbox than the silver screen.
  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    Jul 25, 2012
    60
    A David-and Goliath story that delves into corporate scare tactics, legal effrontery, brand protection, media manipulation, online propagandizing and craven behavior.
  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    Aug 5, 2012
    60
    The relentlessness of corporate might is disturbing but no surprise; "Big Boys" is, however, an eye-opening look at the way the U.S. media fell lockstep behind Dole's claims.
  4. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    Jul 26, 2012
    60
    Documenting the vigorous strategies employed by the Dole Food Company to block the release of his 2009 film "Bananas!" - about a lawsuit brought by Nicaraguan workers who suspected the company's use of dangerous pesticides - the Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten gains traction by taking the high road.

See all 6 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of
  2. Mixed: 0 out of
  3. Negative: 0 out of

Trailers

Current Movie Releases

Full List »
  1. Star Trek Into Darkness
    Metascore: 73
  2. Iron Man 3
    Metascore: 62
  3. 42
    Metascore: 62
  4. Evil Dead (2013)
    Metascore: 57
  5. The Croods
    Metascore: 55
  6. The Great Gatsby
    Metascore: 55
  7. Oblivion
    Metascore: 54
  8. Pain & Gain
    Metascore: 43
  9. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
    Metascore: 41
  10. Olympus Has Fallen
    Metascore: 41
  11. The Host
    Metascore: 35
  12. Tyler Perry's Temptation
    Metascore: 27
  13. Scary Movie 5
    Metascore: 11
All Current Movies »