Fat Head

I'm going to start off by saying that the only reasons I give this movie an 8/10 and not a 10/10 are the sometimes overly corny and personal nature of the rhetoric. By personal I refer to how much this movie makes fun of individuals such as Spurlock (Super Size Me) and The Guy from CSPI (hehe).

With that aside, I have to say this an AMAZING movie. First of all, each negative review I have seen so far misses the point of this movie or simply criticizes it for its low budget nature.

What they do not admit is that, although it is a bit unprofessional to criticize him and others in such a personal fashion, Spurlock had it all coming. This movie clearing demonstrates that Spurlock's entire Super Size Me movie was a sham, was not only designed to prove a point, but was also highly deceitful.

I'm a big supporter of low carb dieting. Now before the reader gets ahead of me, I'm not suggesting you survive on steak and eggs alone. As the movie CLEARLY states, this would be unhealthy. The movie clearly argues in favor of controlling carb intake while maintaining healthy intake of fruits and vegetables. As well, I am not a low carb zealot. As an athlete and someone who takes a deep personal interest in diet, I understand that carbs have their place. However, most people I come across consume massively more carbs than what's appropriate. The movie correctly targets sedentary lifestyle, sugars, and snacking as being major culprits in fat problems.

On top of this, it does an exemplary job of busting the cholesterol, saturated fat, and low fat myths. One or more reviews I read complained that this movie ignores other aspects of a healthy diet beyond cardiovascular disease. That wasn't the focus of this movie, and by the very nature of it being a movie it must be limited in scope. What these reviewers don't mention is that low/moderate carb (100g give or take depending on activity level and goals) diets with plenty of fruit and vegetable intake have been shown to improve all markers of health, from blood pressure to cancer, stroke, arthritis, diabetes, you name it.

I find it sad that each review criticized the presentation methods or subjective opinion on the movie's humorous quality without addressing how incredibly scientifically and nutritionally insightful it is.

This movie presents a plethora of dietary information that is largely unknown by today's population and does so in a (personally speaking) entertaining fashion. For that I give it 8 stars, and will try and get everyone I know to watch it. If you're reading this and are not sure if you should watch it, just watch it, listen with an open mind, and research the points it makes on your own. You will not be disappointed.

While I think "Fat Head" is a very flawed film, I do recommend you watch it. It has many good points to make and makes you think...too bad the film is so ugly to look at and uneven that you might not bother watching the movie to its conclusion. Watch it...even if it is really ugly and could have used some work.

When the film begins, the filmmaker (Tom Naughton) brings up some possible inconsistencies behind Morgan Spurlock's film "Super Size Me". I really wish Naughton hadn't piggybacked on Spurlock's film, however, as although I agreed that Spurlock wasn't particularly fair in how he conducted his 'experiment', focusing all this energy against Spurlock seemed to deflect from THE most important message in "Fat Head"--that many of our dietary assumptions are wrong! Various experts throughout the film made convincing arguments that animal fats are NOT bad and should make up much of our diet. And, interestingly, the US government food pyramid we all followed for so long (which recommended consumption of HUGE amounts of grains) actually have made us fatter and less fit. But, focusing so much on Spurlock was done, most likely, for marketing reasons. As a result, the film seemed a bit ill-focused.

Despite these complaints, my biggest ones are because the film looks very amateurish. The graphics look incredibly cheap and ugly--really, really, really ugly. So, while Naughton is making some good points, he's doing it with graphics which would embarrass most viewers. Plus, sometimes Naughton made wonderful jokes and observations--and other times, he missed the mark and having some outsiders help him polish the film would have really helped.

The bottom line is that Tom Naughton has a lot of talent and made some wonderful observations. But, he simply needs polish and better direction. So, if he could perhaps work WITH A TEAM, the results would look so much better instead of looking more like a YouTube post than a movie. There's a lot to it....and try to look past its deficits.

Let's be honest-- at 500 pages most of us aren't going to read "Good Calories, Bad Calories." This film serves as a much easier introduction to the theories and realities about why we get fat, what causes coronary heart disease and diabetes, and what we can do to reverse those conditions. In an easy-to-understand and humorous way, the film explains why the "obvious" reasons we are fat (access to fast food, fat in the diet, etc) are often the wrong answers. If you are trying to lose weight, have heart disease or type-2 diabetes, or just want to live a healthier lifestyle, grab a friend and sit down to watch this film.

As a Fortean (Google that if you're not sure), and a follower of a high fat, low carb diet (Google The Primal Blueprint) I appreciate his efforts in debunking the Conventional Wisdom and looking at the real results of scientific studies, and deriding the "experts" who had thrown out data that doesn't jibe with their theories. I mean, he eats like me. Double cheeseburger and diet soda. Except I don't eat the bun.

I would object to his rebuttal against Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" He derides Spurlock for being, I suppose, elitist. He claims that Spurlock thinks poor people are "stupid" because they don't know any better to avoid eating fast food if they are overweight. Spurlock never claimed poor people are stupid, but I am sure he would admit that they are low information. Just like many Americans. That doesn't make them stupid, that makes them deprived of information due to the lousy job done by our public education system and corporate driven media, but that's an argument for another day.

In regard to Spulock's point about availability of food options among the poor, I have news for you, guy. If you have never been in a poverty stricken area, sometimes the only food options are McDonald's. Not even a supermarket. Maybe some beef jerky and Doritos from the liquor store, where the shop owner has to jack up his prices to obscene levels because he's been held up at gunpoint multiple times and his insurance is through the roof. But it's either that, McDonald's, starvation, or drive 15 miles to an area with decent choices. All not the best options.

Overall, people need to hear most of this movie, but I did not appreciate his ragging on Spurlock.

As far as "following the money," as this movie suggests, with the fast food industry versus the weight loss industry, one getting fat off getting people fat, and the other getting fat off getting people skinny (or trying to and failing), who can the average person possibly root for in that competition?

In this particular case; the deceitful agenda of the powerful lobbying especial interest groups behind the shadowy "fattification" of the US of A. A smoke and mirrors "epidemic" which they themselves manufacture ("The Man", obv); knowingly and willingly. The medium is in a form of rebuttal to the lame Super Size Me one; even with the same tone. Except infinitely better and more funny. It also serves as a teaching aid in explaining why regular diets don't work, and the intuitive truth about how our metabolism has evolved to eat meat; not vegetables. Despite what you have been misled to believe all your life. I can't believe this isn't rated higher; but it doesn't surprise me as much anylonger. The problem for many then is, that oftentimes it comes too hard and lengthy on it subject matter. But it's OK, since after all; it was made by a self proclaimed on-the-side comic (nothing wrong with that either) And I thought it succeeded wonderfully in making fun of the referenced people and institutions; again, it was really good and funny. If any; I found out that it didn't pwnd them hard enough. I also didn't mind the low budget; for it was nicely shot, edited, and very well put together; also it gave it real character. The animations were well done, funny and informative as well. Hence, the problem with sheeple is that when you tell them explicitly; then it's always your fault. They resist you and go all STFUN&WTF on you. People just don't like to be accountable for their actions; let alone hint at being merely responsible. Not to mention that people get offended for the most irrelevant and silliest things; because he badmouthed Mcnutguy(Spurlock), some minorities, the govermint; etc. Give me a break! Nothing nowhere near when an anti establishment person utters a word. Eg, a 9/11 conspiracy; which I'd at least understand their closed minded, backlashing, emotional response. There's no need to say conspiracy anyhow; because everybody should know by now that the evil corporate-govermint is responsible. This has been proved time and time again. Yet sheeple just don't want to accept that simple fact. Nevertheless; I urge you to think and found out for yourself, if that's not the case. Ie, ask yourself; what parts were not true about those statements? None obv; at least to me. Vegnuts arguments are exactly like animal rights ones; they are all emotions over reasons. Because otherwise they'd have no arg "point"; ie anything to stupidly complain about. Vegetarism is malnourishing, sickening and anti-natural; deal with it. So if you eat like a pig; better stated, what a pig does; then you'll obv become a pig. No surprises; a bad rating or review, or self righteous indignation; at least from my behalf. Just kudos for telling it like it is, on a job superbly done!