Super Size Me

This movie is a documentary for those who hate documentaries. Funny, relatively fast-moving, and a cautionary tale without being preachy. Spurlock is a funny guy and treats his subject with good humour, making us laugh and shake our collective heads over our own poor decision-making. There is no "Ronald is Satan" message here, and no "look how bad Americans are." It is simply a down-to-earth, well paced, insightful and humorous look at how insidiously entrenched The United Corporation of America has become in our institutions and minds, and the consequences therein.

One of my favorite scenes was a peek into a school where the now-famous (and irritating) Jared Fogel (you know...fat guy becomes skinny guy !thanx! to Subway) does a "get fit" speech. Spurlock interviews a mom and her significantly overweight daughter, and the daughter actually laments that of course SHE cannot lose weight like Jared because...and this is priceless...SHE cannot afford to buy/eat two Subway sandwiches a day! So this girl walked away actually believing that the ONLY WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT would be to follow Jared's example, VERY SPECIFICALLY, and eat two Subway brand sandwiches each day. So for her, even the SOLUTION to her problem had a corporate logo! Amazingly, she could not even envision the general message of "eat right/exercise more."

Spoilers herein.

I'm not sure I have a good handle on the difference between documentaries and performance art. It is blurred enough whenever Michael Moore or Ken Burns take control. Here, the situation is even more confusing. I think that is the intent and why this little thing has appeal.

The documentary half of this Frankenstein concerns the international epidemic of obesity that is overwhelming the industrialized world. The numbers and images are memorable enough to form the basis of an essay.

The complexity of this half evaporates when it is reduced to a matter of blame, as is always the case (the reduction to blame and the unworthiness of the result). Pictures of chunky kids notwithstanding, there are some interesting fundamental problems here revolving around whether we are capable as a society of making decisions; whether 'freedom' doesn't, even can't work.

But the other half of this is performance art. A professional actor binges on McFood and tells us (as effectively as Chris Guest might) about getting the McTingles and the McPukes. His doctors raise the alarm. Will he abandon the project, his mother begs. His girlfriend testifies that she can tell that McErections aren't as good.

All this is amusing enough to occupy your time, I suppose, if you don't have much of a life. The problem is that the latter half masquerades as the first. Unhappily, we cannot tell the difference, and the reason is the real scandal: political 'education' (and talk radio) has taught us that anecdote and metaphor are reasonable substitute for the real thing.

So one leaves the theater feeling that just like McDonalds brands its product with a clown, so has this film branded the case against McDonalds with a clown. Same same.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Living with his vegan girlfriend, Morgan Spurlock decides to try and eat McDonalds for every meal for a month. At the same time he reduces the amount of exercise and walking to match that of the 'average' American to make for a fair experiment. After an initial bit of sickness he gets to enjoy the food and eats it three times per day. However after a week or two, his doctors begin to notice significant increases in body fat, cholesterol and blood pressure. Interspersed with this are interviews with experts on the nutritional value, marketing and impact of McDonalds and fast food generally.

Several years ago I read the book Fast Food Nation and basically that ended my interest in the main fast food outlets and saw my consumption of processed foods drop quite a bit. I did not become a born again Christian and still eat rubbish food and am no role model for healthy living! However, what I have notice in the press and in the audiences for this film is a rather smug 'look at them' attitude as if this has no impact in Europe and Americans are some sort of freak show and nothing to do with us. This film may focus on McDonalds because it is the world leader in fast food which is high in saturated fats but if all you take from this film is pleasure at seeing McDonalds taking a kicking then you are missing the point. The film was challenging to me and I hope it was to many viewers – but I have not eaten in McDonalds or Burger King since 2001 and a bad bout of food poisoning in early 2003 ended my ability to enjoy KFC. So why did I find it challenging? Well, because like many others, I eat too many saturated fats and, regardless of where they come from (oven foods, ready meals or fast food) I need to cut them down. Spurlock sends this message in a really entertaining way while also having good digs at McDonalds.

His relaxed style is refreshing and allows the facts to speak for themselves. He clearly doesn't like fast food as a concept but he is no Michael Moore and is only slightly biased. He is certainly a lot more interesting than his vegan girlfriend who is one of those overbearing self-righteous types who look down their nose at anything. His good humour makes the film but it is the documentary rather than the gimmick that kept me watching. The facts on obesity do speak for themselves and they are frightening and all the more so when you actually sit and think about what you eat – sweets, colas, ready meals, crisps, processed foods; whether it is salt, saturated fats or sugar, any of these foods spells trouble if they are not part of a balanced diet. My only fear of this film is that many viewers will look at McDonalds and say 'they are to blame, lets get them' and simply ignore that it is very easy to eat an unhealthy diet – go to any supermarket and you'll find 'easy' food served up quickly but without the things your body needs. I was challenged because I can easily veg out for several days and be too tired to cook decent food and this reminded me why I need to – hopefully many viewers will take that challenge and not just turn from one fatty diet (McDonalds) to another (ready meals).

I personally didn't find the film as funny nor as shocking as many commentators have said it was but it was still consistently entertaining and interesting, true not the most scientific of experiments but that is not the point. True, very few people eat McDonalds every day but many, many people do eat foods high in saturated fats everyday even if they are not all happy meals and, in this way, maybe Spurlock's experiment wasn't so far-fetched and, lets be honest, like their own lobbyist said – McDonalds are part of the problem. That the film has had an impact is undeniable – the super size option has been removed and how many salads did you see in McDonalds this time last year? It may seem unfair and I can understand why McDonalds has been quick to counter it and call it unfair and, in a way it is unfair – why should they carry the whole blame for an overwhelming surge in unhealthy eating, but I suppose that's what you get for being the market leaders!

Overall this was a very entertaining film that mixes its gimmick well with humour but also a good core of a documentary with interesting talking heads who don't rant or rave but simply look to the figures in most cases. However, I would say this; if you only see this film to sneer at those visibly unhealthy or to tear a strip off McDonalds then you are missing the bigger point – it is easy to eat unhealthy, cheap food no matter what brand it is – eating it every day and having a poor diet is a major problem and, if nothing else this should challenge all of us to look at our own habits and not just point and laugh at others.

Greetings again from the darkness. My daughter and I have been anxiously awaiting the release of this film since first reading about it months ago. Director (and lab rat) Morgan Spurlock takes on a fast food exclusive diet for 30 days and fills us in on the painful steps and sickening conclusion. Many have attacked Spurlock for picking on McDonalds or for not selecting the healthiest thing possible at every meal. These people are missing the point. He explains in the movie that McDonalds is the selection because they so dominate the fast food scene in the world and especially in Manhattan (where he lives). He also explains his meal selection by showing that most McDonalds orders include burgers and fries. Personally, I wondered more about his numerous milk shakes and parfaits. These seem to be the items that were a bit extreme.

For the most part, Spurlock does an excellent job proving that we eat too much fast food, that it is very harmful to our bodies, and that there is evil at work conditioning kids that fast food is real food. The most frightening part of the story was the school cafeteria segment showing how kids eat when parents are not around and when school administrators pay no attention. This is the crux of our problems. The Georgetown professor compared it to the early candy cigarettes that condition kids that cigarettes create happiness. The same can be said for fast food and its happy meals and playgrounds. I did not agree too much with the doctor's comparison of Spurlock to Nic Cage in "Leaving Las Vegas". Cage's character was trying to commit suicide, while Spurlock was running an experiment and even considered quitting when the doctors were begging him to. Overall, a nice documentary without the total disregard for decency and the truth shown by Michael Moore in most of his films. I believe this should be required viewing for all junior high and high school students, as well as all expecting parents. This could be an educational tool to convince people to put a little more effort into their health.

When I first heard about Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary "Super Size Me", I was pretty jaded, because common sense would dictate that if one eats fast food, they are going to have weight and health issues. Indeed, this is what happened to Spurlock, however the magnitude of the health deterioration was astounding.

Presented in a sometimes humorous format, "Super Size Me" is an experiment conducted by Spurlock in which he would only eat McDonald's food, three times a day, with the caveats that he would have to eat everything off the menu at least once, and that he would limit his exercise to the amount of exercise the "average" American gets per day. Therefore, if he is nearing his walking limit for the day (measured by a pedometer he wears) he would have to grab a cab or find another way to get from A to B without walking. Predictably, he gains a lot of weight, (though the rapidness of the weight gain is alarming – at first, 10 pounds in one week) but it is his actual health tests that are the most frightening. By the end of the second week, his doctors, who originally approved his experiment (with some reservation, naturally) were practically begging him to stop. Other than the experiment itself, "Super Size Me" is peppered with facts about the fast food industry and various interviews with industry insiders.

I definitely found the film enjoyable, and somewhat informative (though having read Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, a lot of the information was old news) but there was something missing that is hard to grasp; perhaps the film needed a little more substance and cold hard facts instead of watching him constantly eat. However, it is my understanding that the supplemental materials on the DVD are extremely informative and even include an interview with Schlosser, so perhaps more insight could be found there. Spurlock is a great presenter, however, because he is just a regular guy who has a great amount of charm and good camera presence. He was entertaining and likable enough to really illicit concern when his health was so obviously starting to become effected. Ironically, his girlfriend (and now wife) is a vegan chef, so it was mildly humorous to watch her preparing a detox menu for him using the most apropos vegetables to clean out his system.

The aim for most documentaries is to present a thesis and then not only prove it, but provide supporting evidence. Though the thesis of "Super Size Me" was kind of a foregone conclusion, Spurlock manages to provide us with supporting evidence that doesn't make the entire film one big "Well, duh!" which is what I kind of expected, going into the film. If you have seen or plan to see this movie and are interested in the subject matter, I would highly recommend reading Schlosser's Fast Food Nation to gain even more insight on the business of fast food. It's a very interesting read and would make a good companion piece to this documentary. 6/10 --Shelly