"There's sh*t in the meat," says one Mickey's marketing executive to another in Richard Linklater's "Fast Food Nation." Given that Mickey's is the fictional stand-in for McDonald's, in a film based on Eric Schlosser's non-fiction exposé of the same name, there's definitely cause for concern. But don't get your hopes up. This is as provocative as "Fast Food Nation" gets.
We start off with Greg Kinnear as Don Anderson, one of the aforementioned Mickey's marketing brains. Don is sent to the fictional UMP meat-packing plant in Colorado to investigate the cause of contaminated burger patties and is surprised by the grisly, unpleasant realities of fast food production. This world is also populated by immigrant workers who are variously abused and exploited by the corporation that employs them.
Among them is Raul (Wilmer Valderrama, unable to shake the ghost of MTV's "Yo Momma" in his first serious role). His performance is propped up by Catalina Sandino Moreno ("Maria Full of Grace") and Ana Claudia Talancón ("The Crime of Padre Amaro"), cast as sisters who fall prey to the sexual appetite of their UMP supervisor (an amusingly deceptive Bobby Cannavale).
"Fast Food Nation" also shows what goes on behind the fast food counter, trailing a teenage Mickey's employee who promptly quits her job at the local franchise, joins a group of young activists and finds out that their anti-establishment activities are ultimately pointless. The narratives interweave but most of the characters never meet each other.
This study of the fast food industry from a variety of angles is an attempt to illustrate both the vastness of its influence and the seriousness of its negative effects on society. Unfortunately "Fast Food Nation" doesn't execute this strategy with much finesse. The narratives are pedestrian, minimally dramatic and never implicate the audience. Instead of being biting and critical, "Fast Food Nation" is tameeven elegiac, suggesting that the damage has already been done. So why should we care?
Schlosser's book was bent on exposing the filthy underbelly of the fast food machine for the purpose stimulating change in America. "Fast Food Nation," the film, is a low-calorie, disposable version of the originalcertainly not rabble-rousing fare. While the book was consistently compelling, the film's revelations steadily reduce over 106 minutes and its characters fade away.
Ultimately, it seems the urgency with which it should convey its unsanitary message has been lost in the meat-grinder of literary adaptation. "Fast Food Nation" should've been a documentary. Instead, it barely sizzles as fiction.
Copyright (c) 2006 by Lauren Simpson
We start off with Greg Kinnear as Don Anderson, one of the aforementioned Mickey's marketing brains. Don is sent to the fictional UMP meat-packing plant in Colorado to investigate the cause of contaminated burger patties and is surprised by the grisly, unpleasant realities of fast food production. This world is also populated by immigrant workers who are variously abused and exploited by the corporation that employs them.
Among them is Raul (Wilmer Valderrama, unable to shake the ghost of MTV's "Yo Momma" in his first serious role). His performance is propped up by Catalina Sandino Moreno ("Maria Full of Grace") and Ana Claudia Talancón ("The Crime of Padre Amaro"), cast as sisters who fall prey to the sexual appetite of their UMP supervisor (an amusingly deceptive Bobby Cannavale).
"Fast Food Nation" also shows what goes on behind the fast food counter, trailing a teenage Mickey's employee who promptly quits her job at the local franchise, joins a group of young activists and finds out that their anti-establishment activities are ultimately pointless. The narratives interweave but most of the characters never meet each other.
This study of the fast food industry from a variety of angles is an attempt to illustrate both the vastness of its influence and the seriousness of its negative effects on society. Unfortunately "Fast Food Nation" doesn't execute this strategy with much finesse. The narratives are pedestrian, minimally dramatic and never implicate the audience. Instead of being biting and critical, "Fast Food Nation" is tameeven elegiac, suggesting that the damage has already been done. So why should we care?
Schlosser's book was bent on exposing the filthy underbelly of the fast food machine for the purpose stimulating change in America. "Fast Food Nation," the film, is a low-calorie, disposable version of the originalcertainly not rabble-rousing fare. While the book was consistently compelling, the film's revelations steadily reduce over 106 minutes and its characters fade away.
Ultimately, it seems the urgency with which it should convey its unsanitary message has been lost in the meat-grinder of literary adaptation. "Fast Food Nation" should've been a documentary. Instead, it barely sizzles as fiction.
Copyright (c) 2006 by Lauren Simpson