Fast Food Nation
Starring: Wilmer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Ana Claudia Talancón, Juan Carlos Serrán, Armando HernándezDirector: Richard Linklater
Studio: 20th Century Fox
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Running Time: 114 minutes
DVD Release: March 6th 2007
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DVD Review
Inspired by the incendiary New York Times bestseller that exposed the hidden facts behind America's fast food industry Fast Food Nation combines an all-star ensemble cast lead by Greg Kinnear Wilmer Valderrama and Avril Lavigne with riveting interlocked human stories to serve up "a firecracker of a movie that jumps off the screen" (Rolling Stone). When a marketing executive (Kinnear) for the Mickey's burger chain is told there's a nasty secret ingredient in his latest culinary creation "The Big One" he heads for the ranches and slaughterhouses of Colorado to investigate...but discovers the truth a bit difficult to swallow.Episodes-Bonus Features:Widescreen FeatureCommentary with Director Richard Linklater and Writer Eric SchlosserManufacturing Fast Food Nation FeaturetteThe Meatrix Flash Animation ShortThe Meatrix II Flash Animation ShortThe Meatrix II 1/2 Flash Animation ShortThe Backwards Hamburger Flash Animation ShortPhoto GallerySystem Requirements:Running Time: 113 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 024543418689 Manufacturer No: 2241868
User Reviews
GROSS - Rating: 2/5
Dont watch this is you have a weak stomach. Sick overkill with no real ending. Should have just made a docu. I don't know why at the end the wife went back to the meat plant she despised? I thought illegal immigrants all got free healthcare or at least their anchor babies do?
fine exposé---even if the company in the film is fictional - Rating: 5/5
Fast Food Nation is an excellent film about the very real and highly disturbing flaws that exist in a meat packing plant that provides the beef for Mickey's, a fictional fast food chain that doesn't exactly have its act together. Not only do we see how American lives are affected by this mess, we also see how desperate and sometimes frustrated, angry young people and illegal immigrants are drawn into this situation. The movie moves along at a good pace and the acting is terrific. The casting is excellent and this is one movie I must highly recommend even with a few hard to swallow (pardon the pun) scenes at the end of the "kill floor" at the meat processing plant.
When the action begins, we meet Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear) who is a high level executive at a fast food chain company. One day Don's boss informs him that some students at a university have found that there is waste matter in the meat. Don's boss orders him to the Colorado packing plant to investigate and try to find a way out of this mess.
We also meet desperate, frightened, yet sometimes angry Mexican immigrants who were so desperate for money that they illegally crossed the border from Mexico into the US. Two or three of them wind up working at the meat packing plant in Cody, Colorado. There is Raul (Wilmer Valderrama) and Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and we also meet Coco (Ana Claudia Talancón). There are even young kids involved in the overall plot. There is Ashley Johnson who plays Amber, a cashier at Mickey's whose conscience bothers her about working there; and there is Paul Dano who turns in a stunning performance as Brian, a kid who spits in the food routinely and dreams up schemes to steal money from the fast food restaurant.
Of course, from here the plot can go almost anywhere. What happens when one of the Mexican men is injured--badly injured at the meat processing plant? How do Silvia and Coco get along when they get into the United States? What about Don Anderson--will he be able to find a graceful way out of this mess and make everything all right after all for Mickey's, the fast food chain? Watch the movie and find out!
We also get great smaller performances from highly talented actors including Kris Kristofferson and Bruce Willis. They make the movie all the more interesting and their acting is excellent, too.
The DVD comes with a documentary entitled "The Manufacturing of Fast Food Nation;" and there are four animated shorts as well. There is a commentary by director and co-author Richard Linklater and co-author Eric Schlosser as well.
Overall, I would recommend this film for grown ups--and those of them with strong stomachs at that. There is the issue of drug use in this film; and the scenes from the "kill floor" are not exactly going to help you sleep well tonight. However, if you can handle it, Fast Food Nation is a brilliant film that even allows its viewers to draw their own conclusions and opinions about these complicated topics.
Very different from what I was expecting - Rating: 3/5
I went into Fast Food Nation pretty blind to what it would actually be about. I saw they title and red the description but for some reason thought it would be more of a comedy then an actual serious film. As I watched I realized this one had a pretty significant message to get across and I decided to stick with it.
The film starts out with the VP of marketing being sent on a mission to uncover a problem with waste getting into the hamburger meat. At the same time he is doing this there is a van full of immigrants coming to the US to find some opportunities. They wind up being employed at the meat processing plant in which the burger chain recieves their meat from. It carries on from showing you how certain characters are being affected in their lives by the huge company. The story was pretty good and very serious. This really was more of a forum for the writers to get their opinions across. Overall this one is worth watching and has a decent amount of big names appear throughout the film.
A Bit Preachy - Rating: 3/5
The fast food industry is an easy target, and this drama pulls no punches in stereotyping it as greedy and heartless. This is a drama, not a documentary, though. The pace is enough to keep the viewer watching, despite the knee-jerk underlying messages that fast food is a horror. The slaughter scenes are graphic. Worth watching as entertainment.
Love the book, hate this film! - Rating: 1/5
I thought "Fast Food Nation" would be a fascinating documentary about, among other things, the lies cooked up in corporate test kitchens. My favorite image from Eric Schlosser's engaging expose is that of the scientist fooling him with the scent of a juicy freshly grilled burger when there's no burger or grill in the room--I was expecting killer stuff like this.
Nothing of the kind. There's a truckload of characters in this psuedo-doc, some sympathetically but superficially portrayed (hideously exploited undocumented workers), some thoroughly idiotic (ultra-silly teens who decide to liberate cows in an excruciatingly long section that should have been left on the cutting-room floor), and the corporate chain of command, which should be the focus but for some unknown reason isn't. They're all thrown together as a mural, and it doesn't cohere--it's just another "Nashville" wannabe, and a waste of some good talent (effective use of Bruno for a few minutes, however).
When I left the theatre, I ran straight to the nearest burger joint!
