Super Size Me Review
by Karina Montgomery (karina AT cinerina DOT com)May 19th, 2004
Super Size Me
Full Price Feature
By now you surely have heard about what this documentary is about. After hearing about the obese teenagers suing McDonald's for their weight problem, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock decided to explore the idea of personal responsibility, the asserted nutritiousness of the fast food menu, and the insidious ways our modern lifestyle is bad for us (beyond just what we put in our mouths). How did he do this? He ate only McDonald's food, three meals a day, for 30 days. The adverse health effects alone make this film worth seeing, but Spurlock is such a delightful tour guide, and the problem is more than just nasty, fattening food. You need to see it to believe it.
As an experimental subject and as the "host" of this documentary, Spurlock has a fantastic sense of adventure, an engaging narrative style, and a great sense of personal investment. He is not scared to show you the good, the bad, or the extremely ugly (watch that third day/first supersize, it's a doozy) about this projects, the effects on him or his girlfriend, and he keeps it moving, keeps it interesting. The film toggles between informative and exploitative (exploiting Spurlock) at just the right pace so you don't feel preached at and you don't feel like a voyeur. You don't need to be preached at. The information is right there for you to digest, so to speak.
So Spurlock goes on his all Big Mac (and other menu items) diet. "So what?" you might think. "I eat McDonald's all the time, and I am fine." Well, he put some other rules into play, like how much physical activity he allows himself, and absolutely no non-Mickey D content to hit his belly. In response to the teenage girls's lawsuit, McDonald's countered that their meals are nutritious, not fattening. So nutritious that by months' end, Spurlock's liver resembled that of a man committing suicide by alcohol. What is frightening is not the simple weight gain, but the more insidious effects, the deeper physiological and even psychological responses to the diet. In addition, schools today, facing many, many children being left behind, are bowing to corporate "sponsorship" and feeding their kids much the same crap, so as to get some money in for education. The cycle spins alarmingly, driven by profits and nothing more.
What about personal responsibility? Not everyone is smart enough to be checked out by a dietician or doctor when they become fatter, depressed, lethargic, bloated, and impotent. Everyone else is too, so who cares? I gotta job to do. Sometimes two jobs. I don't have time to cook at home, it's McD or nothing. Besides, it's cheap and it fills me up. The movie does not sit down and say, "Look, kids, the world we live in makes this seem like the only option, but it's not." It doesn't have to. The brilliant editing and the great footage and interviews say it all. All Spurlock has to do is be a guinea pig and report on his progress and the facts tell the story.
What about corporate responsibility? Everyone doubles over laughing at this concept except maybe the Green Party. Many would say lack of corporate responsibility the problem - ethics will always take a back door to profit in this country. Hence, we sue them. But should McDonald's be sued for someone's lack of willpower? This film would make a great gift pack with Fast Food Nation, a far more back-story driven work but definitely with the same spirit of revelation.
At our screening, the director of photography Scott Ambrozy (hunky even after gaining his 12 pounds on the shoot) was there to answer questions that you won't find on the film's excellent site (http://www.supersizeme.com/). They will be making a different cutting to take to schools, and they shot 350 hours of footage, so look out for the best DVD supplement this side of Middle Earth. Bravo editors Stela Georgieva and Julie Bob Lombardi! Everyone should see this film, it's fantastically made but also really important.
Confessional: my companion and I, unable to properly gorge at the fruit and cheese reception after the screening, slunk off to In and Out Burger (Southern California chain famous for using only fresh ingredients) and reveled self-consciously in our American-ness - "Well, that wouldn't happen to ME." I had a huge stomach ache afterward.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
