Fast Food Nation (2006) User Reviews

Not as nauseating as a Big Mac

[moutonbear25 · 7/10 · 19 November 2006]

FAST FOOD NATION Written by Eric Schlosser & Richard Linklater Directed by Richard Linklater

I've tried on a number of occasions to eliminate McDonald's from my diet. The first time I tried was a few years back, after reading Eric Schlosser's non-fiction work, FAST FOOD NATION. I remember going to buy fries for the last time before reading the chapter entitled, "Why the Fries Taste so Good." I had to go for that last fry before I could never look at them the same way again. I went for months without a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder with cheese but it didn't last. Eventually I succumbed to my cravings that persisted despite the time that had elapsed. I knew what I was doing was wrong but as I bit into my two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions on a sesame seed bun, I conveniently forgot about all the chemicals in the meat, the subliminal advertising geared towards toddlers and the migrant, illegal workers in dangerous meat rendering factories that made my burger possible. No sooner had I had my last bite did my stomach twist into a tangled mess. The pain was both horrible and familiar. Unfortunately, Richard Linklater's narrative interpretation of Schlosser's novel is nowhere near as nauseating or as a big a turn-off as the feeling of a Big Mac sitting at the bottom of your stomach.

The decision to translate FAST FOOD NATION from a non-fiction work of in-depth investigative journalism into a narrative film is a bold one. I was apprehensive at first but Schlosser's involvement co-writing the screenplay with Linklater made me less so. Shaping facts into a story certainly humanizes the global implications of the fast food industry but if the narrative is not compelling then there isn't much of a point. FAST FOOD NATION tells different stories to show the wide reach of how many are affected by the fast food industry. Greg Kinnear plays Don Anderson, an advertising executive responsible for The Big One, the latest burger success at Mickey's, the fictional fast food chain at the center of the film. Don must investigate reports that there are significant traces of cow manure in the meat (Fun!). Ashley Johnson plays Amber, a teenage Mickey's employee who juggles school and work while she begins to see her role in the corporate machine that is waiting in her future. Wilmer Valderrama and Catalina Sandino Moreno play Raul and Sylvia, two Mexican illegal immigrants who have been brought into the United States specifically to work at the rendering plant that manufactures the millions of patties that become The Big One. Very little is revealed about the characters themselves as they are merely symbols for the bigger picture. Consequently, there is very little identification with the film. A film that is trying to tell everyone, "America … this is what you've become," needs the audience to feel like this is their America.

What FAST FOOD NATION best exemplifies is America's complacency with the progression of its society. The problems don't stop at Mickey's. The fast food industry is merely just one faceless industry that is driving the American people into hopeless futures. Kinnear's Don is a prime example. He has spent his life packaging products, feeding them to people the way they like it. All the while, he has also been feeding his convenient lies to himself as well. A successful burger comes at a cost and as he travels from his board room to the assembly line and begins speaking with people who don't have any stake in the production of The Big One, he understands that there are truths under his lies that he cannot go on ignoring. By the time we see him bite into his third burger, his apprehension to do so is rampant. Yet, he still takes that bite. This is what we do. We get fed a ton of information from different angles. The product pushers tell us how wonderful it is and the non-believers prove otherwise. Schlosser's book, which clearly details all the subtle atrocities the fast food industry unleashes into the fabric of America to make one more dollar at the expense of its loyal customers, is well researched and fact-checked. The flip side to the convenience of fast food, from obesity to the exploitation of underage employees, is being discussed by too many people and with increasing validity to be ignored. Yet millions still take that bite.

Linklater does not shy away from expressing his disappointment in the American people nor does he mince words about his lack of optimism relating to making change on the subject. Each character's story is brought to a close and none of them are any better for any of their efforts. Some end up exactly where they wanted not to. Some end up continuing to support the industry despite their newfound knowledge. All these choices are made to ensure money is still coming in, to ensure the American dream is still within reach. Even the youth of tomorrow fail at their attempts to affect the future. The attempt itself does show a trace of Linklater's hope, albeit it fleeting. Despite all this, Linkalter still wants to do his part. The last ten minutes of FAST FOOD NATION bring about some of the more gruesome footage found in the film. We finally get a tour of the "kill floor" at the rendering plant, with plenty of blood and dead cow to go around. The nausea comes too late in FAST FOOD NATION but you certainly won't be rushing for another burger any time soon.

Narrative film on the fast food culture in the United States

[swkidder · 7/10 · 17 October 2006]

This is a difficult film to watch if you are as tired as I am of being ashamed of this country. But maybe, as the film itself says, "The bad guys win until they don't." So go and see it.

It's well done, with an excellent cast, a reasonable script, cinematography that is occasionally better than you wish it were, and excellent editing. It's a complex film that sets out to tell a number of stories that it believes are inextricably entwined... and succeeds pretty well in doing that. It deals with a number of themes and threads ... social, political, and "human stories" ... and connects them all to a process we have collectively enabled ... the high jacking of the food we eat as well as the culture and economy that should nurture and sustain us ... and instead leave us fat and still hungry.

Warning to those who love animals, other humans, and may not be sufficiently desensitized to violence and gore .... you will never eat a hamburger again after seeing this film. You might even go on to question chicken. And you will lose any illusions you might have cherished in the past about the extent to which the industry that sells us this crap goes on to affect the lives of people across the Americas.

You may not enjoy watching Fast Food Nation, but you should make the effort to see it. And, you should make it a point to take at least one person you love that has been eating this kind of junk. You will have done your good deed for the day ...

a kind of head on collision of message and character, with the former winning over the latter

[Quinoa1984 · 6/10 · 19 November 2006]

There's a tendency in films of this nature, of the Fast Food Nation kind, where you already know going into it what the message is. It's not quite exactly as immediately black and white as it might seem (at first), but then after a while it becomes much more clear. While filmmaker Richard Linklater doesn't make very simple statements like 'fast food will make you fat', he does try to push the message that the sort of machinery of corporation is similar to that of the assembly line, is what is crippling to those entwined in the circle of cheap product made from dead meat. Which is fine; I'm not one of those that think precisely along the lines of Bertolucci, who was quoted as saying that he leaves messages for the post office and not for film. However, I do expect that if a filmmaker wants to put forward the message- and boy does Fast Food Nation do that more than anything- to make the characters &/or story lines interesting in the dramatic framework. He achieves this, but only up to a point. Narrative focus and dramatic drive only come through much more effectively within the last 45 minutes, while the first half seems startlingly dull, or at the least meandering.

That being said, I did find elements here and there throughout the weaker section of the film interesting. There's even a spellbinding aerial shot of the seemingly unending field of cattle, waiting for the slaughter. But for the most part early on we're treated to the sort of set-up of the main story lines: a group of Mexican illegals (one of them, Sylvia, played well by Catalina Moreno) get picked up by a guy in a van, and taken to a 'Mart' in town, and go to find work. Most of the illegals find it at a meat-packing/grinding/whatever plant, where what is seen by a quasi executive type, Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear), is not seeing everything he thinks he is when shown around the plant. He meets with a couple of people, one environmentally conscious and protective of his land from corporations (Kris Kristofferson), and another who is cynical and not too optimistic (Bruce Willis, who has one of the best scenes in the film albeit with a speech attached). Meanwhile, as he goes into a Mickey's (ho-ho) to get a 'Big One' burger from Amber (Ashley Johnson), Linklater and co-writer Eric Schlosser also follow her tale of nothingness of the small-town teenage girl.

All of these stories interconnect at times, or are left to themselves. While one is actually intriguing and ultimately very sad, which is the Mexican immigrants tale (that sense of tragic exploitation going on that ends up finding a place in the 'Nation' sense of the word), the other two either spurt to a halt after a while, or just kind of go on aimlessly until the last few scenes. The former of those with Kinnear doesn't give him that much to do aside from listening to people talk, and on the phone talking to his family. In a way he could've had his own film as a character, like with Wally Wiggins in Waking Life, but on its own Linklater leaves him be after the first hour, and then coming to a wrap-around in a predictably dour manner in the end credits. Amber's story, on the other hand, is sort of the opposite- she is just a small-town girl living in a lonely world (as the song goes), and sometimes listening to idiotic plots to rob the Mickey's by his co-workers, while here and there figuring out the future for herself.

What's both fascinating and frustrating about the film though could be seen sort of from Amber's storyline, where you see scenes that are convincing both in characters talking like real people (ala Ethan Hawke's moments), but also having not as much to do with the real 'message' going across that one might think- that is until Amber joins up with the young Animal-rights/ecological brigade and goes to cut a fence down to let the cows out. This actually had a real pathos to it, and was even entertaining (probably against Linklater's own intentions). But it's not just the writing or how Linklater connects the stories together. Acting wise it's hit or miss- Moreno is fantastic in a role that ends her up seeing the actual slaughtering of cows (which is staggering, whatever you think about serving meat in fast food). But the huge ensemble either gets their little moments well like Willis or Hawke, or either 'phones it in' like Kristofferson or just outright sucks like Lavigne. There's even a convincing one-note turn by the sleazy, pig manager of the assembly line job (I forget his name), but he too only get to have his character do what's required in the script.

As I walked out of the theater I realized that this wasn't at all a bad film, in fact it's a a pretty decent effort at dramatizing in small-town/big-ensemble fashion what it is to have the ugliness of consumer productivity. But that I also found it to be, of the films I've seen of his so far, my least favorite of Linklater's, which goes to show how strong a work he can still deliver when when not working at full throttle. And it's a little ironic considering how much of a success I found A Scanner Darkly to be, possibly coming closest to my favorite of his, and how both films take on a specific message to the audience, but one accomplishes it by basing it around characters and a really tightly-knit storyline and style that is consistently engaging, while the other is content to hop around from malaise to shock to whatever. Grade: B

There's sh*t in the meat.

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 2 October 2007]

It doesn't matter that there was a boatload of stars in this film; it is the story that counts.

When i saw the dude spit on the hamburger, I know I was in for trouble.

It is sad to see how the exec sold out and just went along to protect his livelihood when he knew there was something wrong going on.

I lived nine years next to these CAFOs - Controlled Animal Feed Operations. The flies were so bad that you could not go out at night. This was in town! When those West Texas winds whipped across the prairies in the Summer, you knew that wasn't dirt getting in your mouth. 50 pounds of p*ss and sh*t a day from each cow. Where i lived, we fed one million cows a year - 25% of the beef sold in the country. That's a lot of sh*t! The conditions in the meat packing plants were true. We had them and they did have constant accidents due to pushing the lines. It is a shame that we have people risking their lives to get these kinds of jobs because it makes their lives so much better.

Bruce Willis says to just cook it and you'll be all right. I am not so sure anymore.

Rent the DVD and get the special features

[frederique-carre · 6/10 · 1 May 2007]

I read some of the comments made about this film. It does stay at a very superficial level and leaves the audience a bit "hungry" at the end (but not hungry for meat!). I would have wished for more insights - going deeper into the subject.

I saw some comments about the poor acting and I disagree. I think that all actors had a part and is was nice to bring some stars like Bruce Willis and Ethan Hawke.

I rent the DVD and I watched the special features which contain 3 episodes of "The Meatrix", starring Moopheus. The folks who created this cartoon delivered the same message as "Fast Food Nation" in less than 15 minutes - I learned as much and it was fun! I highly recommend.

Funny? Not!

[marshein · 6/10 · 10 September 2019]

I don't know how this film can be called a comedy. Nauseating yes. Tragic certainly. Funny not a bit.

A wasted opportunity: Fast Food Nation is about as satisfying as a happy meal.

[teh_mode · 5/10 · 1 November 2006]

Apparently, ever since Stephen Gaghan bored everyone senseless with his intertwining storytelling techniques for Syriana (2005), Richard Linklater's latest project, a political satire-drama about the fast food industry and its various potholes, adopts the same strategy to the same sort of effect in Fast Food Nation. Among the protagonists includes Greg Kinnear as Don Henderson, the newly acquired vice-president of fast food mogul "Mickey's". His job requires him to market a new type of burger – "The Big One" to the public. Elsewhere we get to meet a family of Mexicans, among them Wilmer Valderrama and Catalina Sandino Moreno, who venture into America illegally via the nasty, corrupt factory worker Mike (Cannavale), in order to fill his disgusting work stations. Mickey's employee Amber (Johnson) who grows tiresome of flipping burgers and pervy bosses – eventually decides to gather a revolt against the beef-slaughtering industry.

On paper – this could be the most cinematically violent satire one could hope for on the big screen. The fast food nation, for better or worse, is such an easy subject to tackle as the behemoth of an industry's only true worth is to fatten the western world into a huge wave of immovable mammoths. The operation of it is even worse, as KFC's documented treatment of its fowl is appalling, as is McDonald's lack of nutritional awareness. So much bag to swing at, surely an accomplished director such as Richard Linklater couldn't possibly avoid hitting something? Suffice to say Fast Food Nation is absolutely punch-less. It relays common truths to support its depiction, which completely washed over me. There is artificial flavourings in these foods? Apparently immigrants are put to work illegally and unsafe in factories, you say? No kidding. Tell me something new. Shock me. The devouring and slaughter of a cow isn't a plea to boycott fast food – it is vegetarian propaganda. Yes it is nasty viewing, but no more so than the limb-removal in Saw (2004) or the teeth extraction in Park Chan Wook's Oldboy (2003). I knew animals die in the process of food making – it is common knowledge. Vegetarian propaganda belongs in a film like Madagascar (2005) or Finding Nemo (2003) where children ponder the humane nature of eating meat, whilst realising that nature itself is fairly ruthless when it comes to hunger. The fact that the biggest indignation proposed unto the industry by this film is of the amount of animal feces going "undetected" in their products is certainly disconcerting, but underlines the weakness to truly devour this subject. It is edited, directed and written in such a pedestrian manner, that not only is there a lack of insight, there is none of the brio or genuine intrigue that Morgan Spurlock's superbly insightful, and utterly entertaining documentary Super Size Me (2004) garnered. Spurlock uncovered a plethora of grotesque truths about fast food that not only made you think about that kind of diet, but also offered a compelling cinematic experience.

It is after witnessing a film as disappointing as Fast Food Nation, that one appreciates a work like Thank You For Smoking (2006) all the more. Linklater has made a movie not just lacking punch, but spark too. Jason Reitman's film about tobacco lobbyists was a movie with similarly hackneyed message: think for yourself. It preached to its own choir much in the same vein is Linklater is doing here; only with verve, and a sense of humour, that more than made it worth the emission. Fast Food Nation is desperately lacking a humorous edge. There is none of that biting satire from Wag The Dog (1997), none of the cutthroat cynicism of Wall Street (1987) or the fluidity in Linklater's previous release this year A Scanner Darkly (2006). It even lacks the intelligence of Syriana (2005), which was not a particularly accomplished film. Instead what we have is an admittedly well-intentioned film, which lacks the wit, insight and storytelling to make this a worthwhile experience.

A healthy dose of much needed reality

[sviau81 · 9/10 · 25 September 2006]

This movie is a fast food chain's worst nightmare. The trans fats, chemicals and artificial flavors these corporations pump into their so-called "food" has been slowly killing a generation of children for long enough, and finally someone's come out with a film revealing the inner workings of this dishonest and dangerous industry. The imagery is compelling, with a convincing and talented cast. This is the payback fast food corporations have needed for a long time coming. Hopefully many will see this movie and walk away better educated in order to live a longer, happier, and most importantly, healthier life. Watch out for fast food industry propagandists posing as film critics in order to discredit this film, their future and income very well depends on the ignorance of the general population. (Cigarette corporations anyone?)

Special Features Make It Worth Watching

[alexraksin · 7/10 · 22 February 2007]

One oft-cited drawback to "Fast Food Nation" is that the film doesn't focus sharply enough on pragmatic steps that Americans can take to eat more healthfully and support sustainable agriculture. But the March 6 DVD includes an antidote in its "special feature" section: the entire series of the critically astute "Meatrix" videos. Though the "Meatrix" is well-known by ardent Web surfers (deemed "the hottest online hit" by Salon.Com, for example), its loose satires on "The Matrix" movies haven't been released offline until now. Its animated characters illuminate the same sort of bleak realities that Upton Sinclair did in "The Jungle," but they have something that most such exposes don't: witty humor. In one episode, for instance, Leo, the young pig who wonders if he is "the one," helps rescue "Moopheus," a trench-coat-clad cow who comes inches away from slaughterhouse knives. The "Meatrix" videos also direct viewers to a website, www.meatrix.com, which offers links to sites like www.sustainabletable.org that outline practical steps people can take to eat more healthfully and support more humane and environmentally friendly agriculture. Viewers might find such advice useful, because various studies—including one conducted by A.C. Nielsen in late 2006—have reported that while Americans increasingly recognize the moral and nutritional problems inherent in any fast food nation, they nevertheless feel powerless to address those problems in daily life.

A wasted opportunity-very disappointing

[goldbe · 5/10 · 19 July 2006]

I had the chance to see this film at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Of all the films I saw, this one was the most disappointing, and the most shockingly mediocre. The film jumps around between a few different, barely interconnected stories, yet none of these segments are explored enough to draw the audience in. For example, towards the end of the film, I began to realize that Greg Kinnear had completely disappeared from the movie without a trace. He is not again seen until the ending credits. The film seems to pride itself on continually throwing in more and more familiar faces, yet these actors prove to be more of a distraction than anything else. Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Avril Lavigne, Bruce Willis, and others all pop up for a brief scene or two, yet for the most part, they fail to leave any lasting impression. At the films end, I left the theater feeling no more enlightened, no more informed, and no more interested in the topics discussed throughout the movie. Richard Linklater is a great director, and he has cast some great actors, but still, Fast Food Nation fails to compel or leave any sort of impact. My guess is that a year from now, most people will have forgotten about this movie entirely.

The point of the film is that these issues ARE intertwined.

[distraido · 9/10 · 16 November 2006]

It's fascinating (and a bit frightening) that, of the people I've heard criticizing this film for not being "moving" enough, none seem to consider the possibility that this could be due to their own cynicism, jadedness, or other similar accumulations of scar tissue. Which are, of course, the very attitudes that allow the abuses depicted in the film to occur in the first place. Some say that Fast Food Nation takes on too many issues, but really it's about one thing: America. It asks us to look at how millions of us live and at the by-products of our living like this. Schlosser and Linklater, by presenting together the issues of fair wages, health, family, drug abuse, etc., give us the BIG picture. We can then have a close look, those of us who dare, at the details, reflect, and get to know our own feelings about it all.

You'd have to be a hardcore-serious skeptic not to revel in the sarcastic wisdom of the old rancher played brilliantly by Kris Kristofferson. Likewise, the family portrayed by Patricia Arquette, Ashley Johnson, and Ethan Hawke feels so genuine and loving, that anyone with a pulse ought to be attracted to the unspoken promise of their humility. All three of those actors give nuanced, subtle-yet-powerful performances. Luis Guzman's bit part is not meant to threaten or scare. It's humor in sleazy, but fairly harmless, smuggler's clothing. Worth mentioning is the palpably real character of "Mike", the meat packing plant supervisor played by Bobby Cannavale. His is yet another fine performance in an important, well-crafted, and thoroughly enjoyable movie.

Cattle of Cows and People and Industry of Food

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 29 June 2008]

In California, the VP of Marketing of the Mickey's Fast Food Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear) is responsible for the hamburger "Big One", the number one in selling in Mickey's chain of fast food restaurants. When an independent research in the meat patties produced in Cody, Colorado, indicates the presence of cow manure, Don is sent to the facility to investigate possible irregularities in the meatpacking production plant and also the major supplier of cattle. Along his surveys, Don finds the truth about the process and how meat is contaminated. Meanwhile, a group of illegal Mexican immigrants arrive in Cody to work in the dirty jobs in the plant while a group of activists plot how to expose the terrible situation of the Mickey's industry.

"Fast Food Nation" has a promising beginning, giving an expectation of a strong message against the fast food industry and the exploitation of illegal immigrants in USA. Unfortunately in a certain moment the story becomes a shallow drama, losing the focus on the cattle of cows, people treated like cattle and the process of manufacturing industrialized meat, never going deeper in these issues. In this regard, "Super Size Me" is much more effective, showing the effects of fast food in the human body. I believe this theme would be tailored for Michael Moore, and I did not like this work of Richard Linklater. There are many pointless cameo appearances of famous actors, like for example the characters of Ethan Hawke or Bruce Willis, maybe to show how popular this director is in Hollywood. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Nação Fast Food" ("Fast Food Nation")

It's not just in the beef... it's in this movie.

[euvertrue · 2/10 · 13 October 2006]

Fast Food Nation was a great book, and as a piece of nonfiction, it is still one of the best pieces of long-form journalism of the decade. But Eric Schlosser and Richard Linklater's fictionalized take on the same topic isn't deserving of the original book's name.

First, the film tries far too hard to do far too much at once. Is it a cautionary tale about eating beef? Cattle farming? Illegal immigration? Paying workers too little? Crystal meth? Optimism? Any one of these (or even two) would have been enough fodder for a 2-hour film, but tackling them all in one movie is a blunder. A very Big One. No topic is explored enough, and in the process, they all suffer.

Second, the casting is hit-or-miss. Wilmer Valderrama is surprisingly good, as are Greg Kinnear and Ashely Johnson. As expected, Catalina Sandino Moreno runs away with the film, when she's on camera, which is not very much. But Avril Lavigne is laugh-out-loud terrible, as is the comically unscary Luis Guzman.

Third, the grossout factor. There are graphic and bloody scenes of animal death and dismemberment in the movie, but to what end? They're stuck in with no discussion or reflection on them, and because of this, they seem simply gratuitous, not moving or instructive. And really, that's the story of the entire film.

Fast Food in a Faster Nation.

[IRateFilms · 7/10 · 28 November 2006]

Director Richard Linklater has released another gem to add to the list of films that have made him the eclectic filmmaker he is today. Fast Food Nation, which accompanied Linklater's other film this year( A Scanner Darkly ) at the Cannes Film Festival is a very dialog driven film geared towards a realization or self-awareness geared primarily towards the American population. Also, a warning towards less westernized communities, Fast Food Nation puts the reality of modernization and personality loss into a very potent formula on-screen. The film centers on a large corporation that delivers fast-food quality at a fast-food price across the country. To mirror companies such as McDonalds, Wendy's, or Taco Bell, was the point of Fast Food Nation, and it does more as a film than Super Size Me did as a documentary.

Linklater has a very diverse palette to take from, much like Steven Soderbergh, whereas they can both do intellectual independent films, and then turn around and still make an enjoyable film with a higher budget. Linklater followed up his more mainstream films School of Rock and Bad News Bears, with this thought provoking , eye opening docudrama. As the film tries to open our eyes and ears to the screaming of today's youth it also speaks loudly about immigration, and the border patrol at the U.S. - Mexico border. This seems to be a trend this year, after the issue was covered in Babel, and in The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada.

It's frightening to see the chemicals the fast food companies pour into their foods, and the hormones and literal waste the meat packaging companies use and overlook while feeding the public. There are many gruesome scenes towards the end of the film, that might seem unnecessary to some, but are a clear message that needs to be told and seen. Fast Food Nation is a satirical, yet overtly realistic look at the capitalistic society we live in today. This bleak look at middle-America does shed some hope that there will be a better youth, and that through revolution something optimal will erupt. There are many gruesome scenes towards the end of the film, that might seem unnecessary to some, but are a clear message that needs to be told and seen. Fast Food Nation is a satirical, yet overtly realistic look at the capitalistic society we live in today. This bleak look at middle-America does shed some hope that there will be a better youth, and that through revolution something optimal will erupt.

scattered and a little preachy

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 11 January 2016]

Fast food chain Mickey's Burger has a hit in the Big One. Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear) is a marketing VP in development in their California headquarters. Independent research has found extremely high fecal count in their frozen patties and Don is sent to the Colorado meat-packer to investigate. Old-timer Rudy Martin (Kris Kristofferson) tells him about the hard truths. Harry Rydell (Bruce Willis) is their corrupt meat buyer. Amber (Ashley Johnson) and Brian (Paul Dano) work at the local Mickey's. Amber lives with her single mom Cindy (Patricia Arquette) and they're visited by activist uncle Pete (Ethan Hawke). Meanwhile illegals like Raul (Wilmer Valderrama), Coco (Ana Claudia Talancón), and Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno) sneak into the US to become part of low wage workforce being exploited. Supervisor Mike (Bobby Cannavale) abuses his position by hooking up with Coco. Her sister Sylvia is not happy with the relationship and her drug use.

Director Richard Linklater is adapting the scathing investigative book on the fast food industry by layering three stories on top of the material. It leaves the movie scattered, a bit flat, and too preachy to have much compelling shock factor. Linklater is caught trying to make drama while doing a documentary. I do find two of the three stories to be pretty interesting. I don't like Kinnear's character's awkward naivety. He's in the meat business but has to act dumb. Willis may as well twirl his evil mustache. There is a tale of corporate political corruption but it fails to dramatize it. Ashley Johnson is an interesting lead but her side of the story pales in comparison to the illegals working in the plant. I think that is where the movie shines and it also has the horrifying slaughter room walk-through. The movie would have been more compelling concentrating on that story.

Good movie overall

[JoesGirl67 · 12 March 2007]

I have to say that I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed this film. After reading many harsh critical reviews, I expected to find a documentary style piece that exposes all the dirtiest secrets of the fast-food industry. Instead, I found a well-written, thought-provoking, character-driven dramatic movie that tells several interwoven stories while providing a provocative look at the politics of big business and economics. While its subject matter, the fast food industry, is skewered in this piece, its overall themes could be applied to almost any major industry in this country. It is mainly a look at culture and counter-culture in mainstream America, and how society and big business have shaped the way we think and go about our daily lives. The characters are all believable, everyday people who we can all relate to in some way, and most Americans, if they watched this film, could probably see themselves, or someone they know, in it. Overall, I thought it was a very good movie. Not excellent, but very good.

An Optimistic In A Bleak World

[MannyVarjak · 9/10 · 15 November 2006]

I really like Richard Linklater, the director of Fast Food Nation, because no matter what pop culture, market research, or his distributors tell him he continues to make movies where people talk. I don't mean talk as in "Hasta la vista, baby," or some other cliché-ridden "isn't that clever" marketing jargon, but TALK, as in conversations; the kind that were common place before TV, the Internet, and X-Boxes.

In Fast Food Nation, the film's message is mainly delivered through words. Sure, there's sex, and violence, and even a special effect, but for Linklater's film to be truly affecting it requires the audience to listen. And if they do, they will be rewarded. It's a gamble that I hope will pay off because it's a story that we need to hear. And within his story is an underlying hope--or perhaps just blind faith--that an audience will watch a film about real people dealing with real issues.

There are no true good guys or bad guys in the film. In an interview with my friend, Denis Faye he says, "It's like, hey, everyone's doing their best in this world, you know?"

His characters, like all of us, are all flawed. The good aren't all good, nor the bad all bad, which is something mainstream movie goers, particularly in the USA, seem to have a problem with. Maybe it's because we don't watch movies to watch people in conflict because we get enough of that in our own life.

But to me, at least, this is a great statement of optimism and belief in our society; that we will, when given the choice, choose to listen, think, and make our own decisions. Even in a film that shows life to be pretty bleak, it's a very optimistic view of the world.

Fast Food and Other Horrors

[RadioactiveRat · 6/10 · 3 December 2006]

I will be frank with you; you will almost certainly want nothing to do with a fast food burger after you see this movie. Unless you enjoy feces in your meat or knowing that innocent Mexicans are being cruelly exploited to make your burger. The reckless treatment of the food by the restaurant staff may even be plenty to turn you off. The movie overall isn't the most well directed, but it more than gets its point across. The characters lives mesh together in a depressing charade of greed, desperation, and misguided attempts at animal liberation. The cinematography is adequate and is to be expected for a documentary. The acting of the cast isn't magnificent, but it suites the film well enough. In the final analysis, you will know how they can make a burger for 99 cents.

What a bad movie

[sdesh03 · 3/10 · 20 September 2009]

Another reviewer said that the makers of this movie have lost a valuable opportunity. I completely agree with that opinion. This film is a disaster. The movie touches on important subjects in today's society (exploitation of Mexican immigrants, abusive US corporate power, the brutality of the meat industry, grass-root activism etc) but unfortunately it presents them in a shallow and dull way. The dialogues go nowhere and the events unfold with little sense of direction. The film doesn't even provide basic facts or data on the issues mentioned above. It's fiction that just doesn't bite. If you haven't seen this movie, I strongly suggest to avoid wasting 2 hours of your life on it. If you want to learn the facts of the fast food industry, you won't find any here.

Who are these two actors?

[amd_hall · 7/10 · 19 November 2006]

Who are these actors? I have never seen these actor's and thought that they were both particularly strong:

1. The manager of the Mickey's restaurant.

2. The tall man from of the meat plant in the scene at the hospital with the translator when they say that Raul was on drugs during the accident.

Also how good was Bruce Willis? He really hit it out of the park. Him and Kinnear had a really nice scene. It was nice to let those two guys go and not cut out of the scene too early. Really strong, everyone was good, I question the casting of Avril Lavene, do we really need to see how bad she can be? Stick to the bad pop songs and stay out of the movies Avril!

Just Garbage.

[cows_are_great · 1/10 · 18 December 2006]

Moral of the story: Junk food and fast food are EVIL. This is new. No one has ever done this moral before. Ever. I just didn't see that one coming, that message just punched me right in the face, especially with tag-lines as clever and catchy as "Would you like lies with that" (GET IT? INSTEAD OF FRIES?! HAHAHA! Hilarity. And yet clever and subtle and just smart. Or...), or "The truth is hard to swallow" (That's a clear warning sign that you're in for a festival of condescending know-it-all messages, when they declare their own message a truth or a revelation of some sort... how cocky and pretentious, eh?).

As far as the movie goes from a purely political or moral perspective, it's crap. First of all, it isn't controversial at all, despite the fact that they insist on trying to make it seem as if it is. It was controversial 30 years ago. Stop acting like this is some spark to a revolution or something, for Christ's sake. There isn't really anything you didn't know if you watched SuperSize Me and read the book and have just in general not been locked in a closet for the last 20 years without a TV. The messages are old, stale and uninteresting. And because it's a work of fiction, anything bad that could happen, does happen, and then it gets the balls sensationalized out of it. To use this movie as a piece of education would be like using Terminator to ban research on robotics and AI. So, weak and stale points, sensationalized arguments and an arrogant and condescending tone. Oh, you thought this was why I declared this movie garbage?

The story... whoa Nelly... the story. Poor Mexican border crossers get treated badly and butchered, elite corporate guy sells crap to people and doesn't care because he's a corporate guy and that's what corporate guys do, because corporate = evil, and the teenager feels rebellious. The acting is good, but it can only mask the absolute shoddiness of the story to a certain degree. Characters are all on sided, the story is so obviously politically motivated and without emotion, and the characters barely, if at all, tie in to each other. It's just bad.

The only reason anyone is giving this movie a good review is because they agreed with the moral before they even saw it. They liked that it smashed at fast food just as much as they liked to smash at it. Morally inclined bias to the actual review of the movie. That's all it is.

This movie is indeed just plain fart smelly garbage.

A Nutshell Review: Fast Food Nation

[DICK STEEL · 7/10 · 30 December 2006]

At first glance, my impression of Fast Food Nation is that it'll take a more documentary approach in highlighting issues about the fast food industry. It did look like it had room for satire with a provocative style, but should you be expecting something along the lines of Super Size Me, then this is the wrong movie for you.

For starters, it's got an appeal like Thank You For Smoking, but its narrative choice of attaching characters to mouthpiece different issues, seemed to make the movie feel very scattered in its presentation of ideas. While this approach had its merits, giving different ideas appropriate focus and dedicated screen time, it didn't make a very compelling, thorough argument as a whole. Something along the lines of having too many cooks spoiling the broth, and it really kept the best for the last, building an anticipation which got glossed over too quickly.

Fast Food Nation contains an excellent ensemble cast assembled, and characters ranged from illegal immigrants crossing over the US border from Mexico, to cattle ranchers, food processing plant workers, fast food outlet workers, and all the way up to the corporate boardroom of a fictional fast food chain. The entire supply chain of the fast food industry gets addressed, and every perceived skeleton from the closet gets its fair share of air time. You have doctored reports, tales from the production floor, sexual favours, poor work conditions and lack of benefits, and tons of lies.

Richard Linklater movies have dialogue which rock, and there is no lack of those in Fast Food Nation. In particular, pay attention during the scene with Bruce Willis (yes) and Greg Kinnear. It meanders around, trying to reason, before coming down like a sledgehammer. That conversation itself is a worth the price of an admission ticket, seriously.

The book (I managed to scan through it) probably packed a lot more theories and figures which should make it a compelling read, but the movie, whose screenplay is also co-written by the author Eric Schlosser, in having to adopt a different approach to present those ideas, somehow diluted some of them. But the movie should make you want to pick up the book for more.

And yes, I'm swearing off burgers and fast food for a while.

More important then the sometimes clumsy execution suggests

[oneloveall · 6/10 · 5 March 2007]

Disjointed and unrefined as it may be, Fast Food Nation still remains one of America's most potent in-house criticisms of our horrid low-rent eating establishments and the underlying, skull-crushingly ridiculous bureaucracy that drives an inhumane greed. Largely flawed with a strained and unfocused narrative, the ambitious non-fiction material from which it was based does not get a proper transition to screen. Tackling the abhorrent underbelly of our Ronald Macdonald culture, the film comes with a vision knowledgeable enough to educate and shock at least some of it's viewers into becoming more conscious about what they are actually putting inside themselves when dining via a drive-thru. It is with constant, poorly implemented cross-cutting to subplots mainly tying in illegal immigration, that the powerful themes begin to get lost. While certainly ambitious, the multi-faceted approach into every surrounding stereotype's participation into this dangerous machine called corporate farming, does rapidly begin to detract potency from a vital and urgent heart.

It is my hope that viewers won't get bogged down in the excessive and minor subplots and characterizations, instead appreciating the value this rare type of movie achieves: one that delicately balances social awareness and fun. It is perhaps that precise balance which may, despite much critical panning, help find that delicate center of middle American masses it desperately seeks to engage, in turn becoming a greater triumph then any short-lived award.

bleak, disappointing, want my time back

[canjoh · 3/10 · 6 January 2010]

Perhaps at the time this film came out it made news, but it is now merely a moralistic bore. Many writers have made hay of the beef industry and its hand maiden, fast food in recent years, so if you're paying attention, nothing in this film is really news.

Beyond that, it is a bleak picture of humanity, which isn't unfair, just incomplete. The story is slow, uncompelling, and boring. I nearly turned it off at a couple different points and regretted that I hadn't. The end was a nice little touch, but not worth the wait.

The characters themselves for the most part were very unengaging, cardboard-like, and simply uninteresting. The fact that this movie was based on a non-fiction book should ward off any potential viewer. I didn't heed the warning, and thus, I wish I had those two hours back. I would have been much better off reading a book about food than watching this movie.

Don't make my mistake--there are much better movies about food out there, this one is terrible.

Another Linklater gem

[paulmartin-2 · 8/10 · 23 October 2006]

Richard Linklater has made a niche for himself with a diverse range of highly original, intelligent and interesting films that are largely dialogue driven. Some are idiosyncratic variations of popular genres like Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Waking Life was cutting edge and in a genre of its own while School of Rock was a mainstream hit in the teenage comedy genre.

In a sense, Linklater is like Michael Winterbottom. They have very different styles in film-making, but both tackle vastly different projects from one film to the next, creating impressive bodies of work. Any Linklater film is going to be anticipated by fans of his work, and Fast Food Nation does not disappoint.

Based on Eric Schlosser's non-fiction book of the same name, the film is a fictionalisation co-written by Schlosser and Linklater. The structure of the film is unconventional. It is complex, depicting a number of social, economic and human issues with much compassion. Though the characters' paths cross (or come close to it) at different stages, the film is not exactly an ensemble piece. The different stories don't join up in a contrived manner we often see in this genre. Sections are pieced together with a great line up of actors, such as Patricia Arquette, Bruce Willis, Ethan Hawke and Kris Kristofferson, each of whose characters are interesting enough to carry the film alone.

The truth behind the burgers we eat is revealed through Mickey's Burgers Marketing Manager Don Henderson (Greg Kinnear) as he attempts to discover the source of faecal contamination of the burgers. Amber (Ashley Johnson) is the conscience of the film. As she discovers the ethics in producing the burgers she smilingly dispenses to the public, we share in her transformation.

Catalina Sandino Moreno was terrific as the Colombian drug mule in Maria Full of Grace and again shines in this film as the desperate and indignant Mexican illegal worker. Paul Dano's role as a Mickey's worker is small but much more interesting than his performance in the mediocre Little Miss Sunshine. Though the story is American, there's relevance to Australia with the proliferation of fast food chains, the new IR laws, and cheap imported labour.

The film is largely character-driven but be warned that there are some gruesome scenes towards the end – scenes that should and need to be seen. The film is almost a companion piece to Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me. Whereas Super Size Me was an entertaining documentary, it wasn't as hard-hitting as this fictionalised semi-satirical look behind the scenes. Has anyone else noticed that McDonalds is blitzing us with marketing, just as they did in the lead up to Super Size Me? Fast food companies are afraid of this film, and should be. It is well worth seeing.