A long but engaging and extremely even-handed documentary, and it's engaging in large part because it doesn't take obvious sides. You really don't know which way things will go, nor is anyone portrayed as a purely good guy or bad guy, and different parties are given equal opportunities to speak. I liked it.

I've been interested in multi-level marketing (MLM), AKA legal pyramid schemes, for a while now, so when I heard about this film I knew I needed to watch it. There's a lot to like about it, but there's also a lot to hate. I would have loved for it to focus more on Herbalife itself and its victims. There's a decent amount of information about Herbalife (which is nothing but despicable) and a kind of sub-plot about a group of Latino immigrants who are trying to sue the company for taking advantage of their community. There would probably be more than enough going on there to make for a decent documentary, but instead it focuses too much on the stereotypical "wolf of Wall Street" opportunist (oh wait, my mistake,"activist investor") Bill Ackman and his bid to get rich(er) off of ruining Herbalife's stock. It's clear to me that he's just a sociopath himself who doesn't really care about Herbalife's victims at all, but just sees a situation to exploit for his own financial gain. On one level, I get it. It makes for a very juicy story and everybody wants a "hero" to root for. However, I would rather that hero to have been the actual underdog here, Herbalife's victims. I do think that there is a valuable lesson in the childish quibble between Ackman and his nemesis, fellow Wall Street scum Carl Icahn, about why using the stock market as an indicator of how the economy is doing is basically meaningless for the average person: in reality it's little more than a playground for the ultra-rich, men who are so out of touch with reality or basic human empathy that they put their own egos (oh, and money, did I mention money?) above everything else. It's well-made and will surely keep you entertained, but ultimately it feels hollow and left me hoping for a better documentary about MLM itself, not ego-measuring contests between reprehensible "activist investors".

It has become an integral part of modern, man-made morals that, in order to be considered a "good" person, we are required to feel compassion for those who are of a different racial background than Caucasian, without question. This is especially true in our current political climate, which is why the makers of this documentary have primarily exploited Hispanics as the victims of the corporation in question. The irony is striking when you consider that these people are being exploited by two separate parties; one to recruit new members into their scam (Herbalife), and one to make money off of their misfortune by moving to royally-screw the other party (Ackman).Herbalife is, in fact, a pyramid scheme. This would have been a good documentary had it focused solely on that fact and the facts surrounding it, and not spent most of its time trying to "poke my heart" with sob-stories from illegal immigrants. It's already bad enough that I'm supposed to feel compassion for them, by default, for no logical reason. Now, I'm supposed to feel sorry for them because they screwed themselves by incautiously dumping their (apparently) non-existent incomes into a scam?I'm not going to pity an illegal immigrant anymore than I would pity anybody else that's stupid enough to foolishly throw away money without first researching the company to be invested in.7/10 for being informative, 1/10 for insulting my intelligence, 4/10 average

Writer/director Ted Braun follows controversial hedge fund titan Bill Ackman as he puts a billion dollars on the line in his crusade to expose Herbalife as the largest pyramid scheme in history.This is just about as perfect as a documentary can get. The very moment I was introduced to Herbalife in the early 2000s, I knew it was a pyramid scheme. But obviously others do not see that, as the business continued to be profitable and thriving.This documentary not only explores the pyramid nature of the business, but explains how people fall for it. In some cases, it is because they are unsophisticated immigrants. Other times, they had the business misrepresented to them. But it is not just stupid or ignorant people who fall for it.Without giving anything away, this story will have you cheering on Ackman. He may be one of the very few Wall Street investors who is actually hoping the little guy will win.