Review of Super Size Me
Year: 2004 Reviewer: Chris Docker
In a similar style to Michael Moore's diatribes (against firearms of the U.S. government), Super Size Me takes a heavyweight pot-shot at the fast food industry - notably McDonalds. Morgan Spurlock looks at the general wailing against fast-foods and their disastrous effect on health and obesity. Under the watchful eye of several doctors and his vegan girlfriend, he embarks on a month-long regime where he will eat and drink McDonalds and nothing else. As expected, his health goes from very good to pretty awful. Super Size Me is a bit of a one-line rant, but entertainingly and effectively shot. If it doesn't put you off fast food maybe nothing will. In the closing credits, the film points out that McDonalds altered their marketing a few weeks after the film opened at the Sundance Festival, pushing apparently 'healthy' foods and revoking the 'super-sizing' offer (which allowed an extra big upgrade for a nominal amount). So it may have had some social impact already (which McDonalds, of course, deny). The film is funny and disquieting, though hardly rigorous. Perhaps the most unsettling fact it makes plain is the masses of corporate control over unhealthy meals in the school, and the powerlessness of parents.
Rating: 6/10
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