'Change your life' mockumentary takes aim at Ponzi schemes

A “mockumentary” film to be released on DVD this month takes on Ponzi schemes, multilevel marketing scams and “the get-rich-quick mindset that nearly bankrupted America,” according to its official website. “Change Your Life!” an independently made comedy two years in the making, also spoofs infomercials, fast-money seminars and the best-selling instant-riches book “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books, 2006). As the film's tagline says, “If you live in America and you're not a millionaire yet, you didn't get the memo.” Comedian Adam Christing is the film's co-writer and director and said he once was the victim of a network-marketing Ponzi scheme. “This movie can help people laugh their way through difficult days. We can't attack these people [who have perpetrated scams] physically, but we can attack them through humor,” Mr. Christing said. The film sends the message that “money makes a wonderful servant but a terrible master. We got into this mess because everyone made money their master,” Mr. Christing said. In his own version of a bailout, he said that he will give away “trillion-dollar bills” with the first 10,000 copies of the DVD that are purchased.