Marketing has always been a hidden passion of mine, so naturally marketing movies will also hold a special interest to me. Syrup is an all-time favorite of mine in this category and is honestly better than the 1999 book by Maxx Barry that it is based on. This 2013 pseudo rom-com made a whopping $301 opening weekend. The main actor, Shiloh Fernandez is not a big name by any means; his biggest movies include the 2013 re-film of Evil Dead and the 2011 Red Riding Hood. Even with his lack of name recognition, he still managed to be cast as the main role alongside Amber Heard and Brittany Snow.
The premise of the film is that a very unsuccessful guy has a decent brand idea that turns into a million-dollar marketing campaign. Someone steals his idea, so he creates an even more successful brand. This movie demonstrates the ups and downs of a competitive marketing environment in a very comedic and fast-paced way, while also managing to dish out influential quotes such as “Sex is biology. Sex appeal is marketing.”
This is a great watch if you enjoy marketing movies like Branded and Thank You for Smoking (both of which I will be writing reviews for as well). If marketing isn’t a big interest of yours, these movies are still pretty good, but they won’t be nearly as enjoyable. It’s sort of like how movies like Black Hawk Down and Zero Dark Thirty aren’t very enjoyable unless you really dig politics or the military.
In the end, this movie is clever and witty, but will only be considered a favorite by a handful of individuals (like myself). Nonetheless, I would definitely recommend watching this. The only preface is that some of the content is on the adult side, mostly just profanity, so don’t watch it with your kids unless you’re one of those “cool parents.”