The Fizzy Whiz Kid (review)

Mitch Mathis is a fish out of water when his family moves to Hollywood and he lands at Cecil B. DeMille Elementary School. All of the kids there are connected in some way to the film and TV industry, whereas Mitch's family has never even owned a TV. He makes a few friends, but that isn't enough, so he decides to go to a casting call, where his slightly goofy looks and his ability to ride a unicycle get him cast in a soda commercial. He's an overnight sensation, and the fame of course goes to his head. Everything turns sour when Fizzy Whiz Soda is singled out for attack as a key contributor to childhood obesity; fame proves fickle, and the ridicule Mitch faces in public for being the face of the disparaged product matches the adulation of the previous weeks. Mitch is nothing if not resourceful, and with the help of his friends, with whom he has had to mend fences after he has learned his lesson about being seduced by fame, he is able to get out of his unbreakable contract with finesse and aplomb. This is a didactic tale in more ways than one: not only is there a strong lesson about the downside of fame, but also this is a step-by-step portrait of making a commercial, from casting to final edits, by an industry insider. Mitch's learning curve on the set and the descriptions of his friends' parents' jobs thus read at times like energetic nonfiction, which is a boon for those who want to know what things are really like on a soundstage. Unfortunately, the writing tends to be pedestrian and the book itself is overlong for its intended audience. That said, seriously committed film industry wannabes as well as erstwhile daydreamers will find a lot of good information here about how Hollywood magic gets made.