Movie Notes: Fast Food Nation

January 3rd, 2008

Fast Food Nation

= 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%

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