Movie Notes: Fast Food Nation

January 3rd, 2008

= 2 stars

Starring Greg Kinnear, Wilmer Valderrama, Ashley Johnson
Directed by Richard Linklater

Synopsis

Based on the excellent book by Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation takes a meandering, multi threaded look at how the fast food industry affects several facets of American life.

The Good

• Good acting all around, including small appearances by Bruce Willis, Esai Morales, and Kris Kristofferson.
• The meat plant comes almost too vividly to life. Some graphic details can only be imagined while reading a book.

The Bad

• Overall, I found the book much more affecting — after reading, I vowed to cut down if not eliminate my fast food consumption.
• For some reason the movie is preoccupied with the dramatic lives of fictional characters that didn’t appear in the book. I felt this over dramatization detracted from the core message. I think the movie would have been better as a light hearted documentary like Super Size Me.
• Even on a dramatic level, this flick never hits a level of imperative relevancy like Syriana, Traffic or cynical entertainment like Thank You For Smoking.

Conclusion

Skip the flick and read the book instead.

IMDB: Fast Food Nation
Wikipedia: Fast Food Nation
Rotten Tomatoes: Fast Food Nation 51%