Rating: PG13
Genres:
Business
Culture & Society
Business
Culture & Society
Theatrical Release: 05/07/2004(USA
Release Date: 10/11/2005
SubTitles: Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 100 min
Flags: Adult Language, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: Hart Sharp Video
First-time director
Morgan Spurlock takes a look at the subject of obesity in the United States, specifically zeroing in on the business and culture surrounding the nation's fast-food industry in this 2004
documentary. In addition to studying the marketing of fast food to American children and unsuccessfully attempting to gain an interview with McDonald's executives,
Spurlock attempts to become one of his own subjects by documenting a one-month binge during which he survived only on items from the McDonald's menu, forcing himself to eat three meals a day and try every offering at least once.
Super Size Me premiered at the
2004 Sundance Film Festival.
~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Morgan Spurlock, the director of
Super Size Me, came up with a great hook for his debut as a
documentary filmmaker. His experiment, to eat nothing but three McDonalds meals a day every day for 30 consecutive days, provides an entertaining and occasionally disturbing narrative thread that allows for informative and engaging tangents about American culture's disturbing trend toward obesity. Though the prose in his voice-overs occasionally reveals
Spurlock's amateurism, the editing and the quality of his interviews more than make up for it.
Spurlock has absorbed the work of
Michael Moore and manages to achieve the same intricate balance between laughter, shock, and information that makes
Moore's films entertaining, although
Spurlock is without any righteous anger.
Spurlock understands how to present his interviewees in fascinating ways. The health advocate heir to the Baskin Robbins fortune, a school chef, and a man who eats 750 Big Macs a year are just three examples of how
Spurlock gives his subjects enough screen time to allow the viewer to get a sense of who they are as people, not just pawns in
Spurlock's film. While he could easily have exploited his relationship with his charming vegan chef girlfriend,
Spurlock instead makes her an equal in the film. She provides some of the best emotional moments in the film.
Spurlock successfully melds personal filmmaking techniques, investigative journalism, and a healthy interest in other people to make an engaging film on an important topic.
~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
;)
