Super Size Me

Plot synopsis:
As the film begins, Spurlock, age 32 at the time the movie was filmed in 2003, is physically above average, as attested to by three doctors (a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, and a general practitioner), as well as a nutritionist and a personal trainer. He enlists all three to track his health during the month-long binge. All of the health professionals predict the "McDiet" will have unwelcome effects on his body, but none expects anything too drastic, one citing the human body as being "extremely adaptable." Prior to the experiment, Spurlock ate a varied diet but always had vegan evening meals to appease his then-girlfriend (now wife), Alexandra, a vegan chef. At the beginning of the experiment, Spurlock, who stands 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm) tall, had a body weight of 185.5 lb (84.1 kg).Spurlock starts the month with breakfast near his home in Manhattan, where there are an average of four McDonald's (and 66,950 residents, and twice as many commuters) per square mile (2.6 km²). He also elects to ride in taxis more often, since he aims to keep the distances he walks in line with the 5,000 steps (approximately two miles) walked per day by the average American. Spurlock has several stipulations which govern his eating habits:He must fully consume three McDonald's meals per day (at breakfast, lunch, and dinner time).
He must sample every item on the McDonald's menu at least once over the course of the 30 days (he managed this in nine days).
He must only ingest items that are offered on the McDonald's menu. This includes bottled water. Any and all outside consumption of food is prohibited.
He must SuperSize the meal when asked, but only when asked. He is not able to SuperSize by his own accord.
He will attempt to walk about as much as a typical U.S citizen, based on a suggested figure of 5,000 standardized distance steps per day,[5] but he did not closely adhere to this, as he walked relatively more while in New York than Houston.
Day 2 brings Spurlock's first Super Size meal, at the McDonald's on 34th Street and Tenth Avenue, which happens to be a meal made of a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Super Size french fries, and a 42 ounce Coke, which takes 52 minutes to eat. He experiences steadily increasing stomach aches during the process, and promptly throws up in the McDonald's parking lot.After five days Spurlock has gained almost 10 pounds (4.5 kg) (from 185.5 to about 195 pounds). It is not long before he finds himself with a feeling of depression, and he claims that his bouts of depression, lethargy, and headaches are relieved by a McDonald's meal. One doctor describes him as "addicted." He has soon gained another 8 pounds (3.5 kg), putting his weight at 203.5 lb (92 kg). By the end of the month he weighs about 210 pounds (95.5 kg), an increase of about 24.5 pounds (about 11 kg). Because he could only eat McDonald's food for a month, Spurlock refused to take any medication at all. At one weigh-in Morgan lost 1 lb. from the previous weigh-in, but it was hypothesized by a nutritionist that he had lost muscle mass, which weighs more than an identical volume of fat.Spurlock's girlfriend, Alexandra Jamieson, attests to the fact that Spurlock has lost much of his energy and sex drive during his experiment. It was not clear at the time if Spurlock would be able to complete the full month of the high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, and friends and family began to express concern.In Day 21, Spurlock has heart palpitations. Consultation with his concerned internist, Dr. Daryl Isaacs advises him to stop what he is doing immediately to avoid any serious health problems. He compares Spurlock with the protagonist played by Nicolas Cage in the movie Leaving Las Vegas who deliberately drinks himself to death over a similar time period. Despite this warning, Spurlock decides to continue the experiment.Spurlock makes it to day 30 and achieves his goal. In thirty days, he "Supersized" his meals nine times along the way (five of which were in Texas, three in New York City). All three doctors are surprised at the degree of deterioration in Spurlock's health. One of them states that the irreversible damage done to his heart could cause a heart attack even if he lost all the weight gained during the experiment. He notes that he has eaten as many McDonald's meals as most nutritionists say the ordinary person should eat in 8 years (he ate 90 meals, which is close to 8 years of eating it once a month).Findings
Text at the conclusion of the movie states that it took Spurlock 5 months to lose 20 pounds (9 kg) and another 9.5 months to lose the last 4.5 pounds. His girlfriend Alexandra Jamieson, a vegan chef, began supervising his recovery with her "detox diet," which became the basis for her book, The Great American Detox Diet."The bottom line, they're a business, no matter what they say, and by selling you unhealthy food, they make millions, and no company wants to stop doing that."The movie ends with a rhetorical question, "Who do you want to see go first, you or them?" with a cartoon tombstone for Ronald McDonald ("1954-2012") as a backdrop. The cartoon of the tombstone originated in The Economist where it appeared in an article addressing the ethics of marketing toward children.In the DVD release of the movie, a short epilogue was added about McDonald's discontinuation of the Super Size option six weeks after the movie's premiere, as well as its recent emphasis on healthier menu items such as salads, and the release of the new adult happy meal. However, it is shown that the salads can contain even more calories than hamburgers, if the customer adds liberal amounts of cheese and dressing onto them prior to consumption. It is claimed by McDonald's that these changes had nothing to do with the film.Another issue that Spurlock focuses on is the way McDonald's targets young children with ads before the kids themselves realize how harmful the food is. In the movie, Spurlock jokes that he will battle the socialization of his children by punching them in the face every time they pass a McDonald's so that the golden arches do not elicit happy memories

Tags: comedy, boring, entertaining, clever

Review:
My only fear of this film is that many viewers will look at McDonalds and say 'they are to blame, lets get them' and simply ignore that it is very easy to eat an unhealthy diet  go to any supermarket and you'll find 'easy' food served up quickly but without the things your body needs.
I was challenged because I can easily veg out for several days and be too tired to cook decent food and this reminded me why I need to  hopefully many viewers will take that challenge and not just turn from one fatty diet (McDonalds) to another (ready meals).I personally didn't find the film as funny nor as shocking as many commentators have said it was but it was still consistently entertaining and interesting, true not the most scientific of experiments but that is not the point.
True, very few people eat McDonalds every day but many, many people do eat foods high in saturated fats everyday even if they are not all happy meals and, in this way, maybe Spurlock's experiment wasn't so far-fetched and, lets be honest, like their own lobbyist said  McDonalds are part of the problem.
It may seem unfair and I can understand why McDonalds has been quick to counter it and call it unfair and, in a way it is unfair  why should they carry the whole blame for an overwhelming surge in unhealthy eating, but I suppose that's what you get for being the market leaders!Overall this was a very entertaining film that mixes its gimmick well with humour but also a good core of a documentary with interesting talking heads who don't rant or rave but simply look to the figures in most cases.
However, I would say this; if you only see this film to sneer at those visibly unhealthy or to tear a strip off McDonalds then you are missing the bigger point  it is easy to eat unhealthy, cheap food no matter what brand it is  eating it every day and having a poor diet is a major problem and, if nothing else this should challenge all of us to look at our own habits and not just point and laugh at others..
Think there's a connection?In "Super Size Me", a documentary from talented debut filmmaker Morgan Spurlock that manages to be both entertaining and horrifying, he attempts to draw a parallel between the fast food culture we live in and the rampant (and ever-increasing) rate of obesity in America.
How children could be expected to show "personal responsibility" above and beyond that exhibited by their likely-obese parents in such an environment of brand franchising, 2nd-rate meal "programs", and cutbacks in PE/recess time is a matter that I invite all fast-food apologists at IMDb to explore.For pure entertainment value, I have to deduct points for an uneven pace (especially near the end) and insufficient exposition from some of the people in the film.
This documentary film by Morgan Spurlock asks the intriguing and topical question: What would happen to a normal 33-year-old man in perfect health who stands six feet two and weighs 185 pounds if he ate nothing but McDonald's fast food for thirty days?Well, it is not recorded that he shrunk.
In fact, Spurlock, forsaking his vegan girlfriend's healthy cuisine, gained about 25 pounds and saw his cholesterol level shoot up to dangerous levels as he huffed and puffed his way three times a day through myriad Big Macs and fillet o' fish sandwiches, milk shakes, sodas, fries and other not-so-delicate items from the menu of the world's largest purveyor of fast food.
However, some people feel that the advertising has been so insidious for so long and the food so addictive to susceptible individuals that McDonald's ought to be taken to court just as the tobacco companies have been.For more information on the epidemic, its consequences, and what can be done about it, I refer the interested reader to The Hungry Gene: The Science of Fat and the Future of Thin by Ellen Ruppel Shell; Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fastest People in the World by Eric Critser; and Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser.
His girlfriend, a vegan chef no less, looks forward to the month with a mixture of humor and alarm."Supersize Me" has lots of scientific information on the nature of fast food and its impact on an America that eats out more than it dines at home, a change from a past where mom or a wife faithfully prepared most meals.
Nutritionists decry the change in our culture, educators point out the impact of fast food in school cafeterias on kids' health, a former Surgeon General gravely decries the menace and the usual person-on-the-street suspects shock viewers by their bumbling inability to define such terms as "calories."  A food industry spokesman is blithely unaware that he is being set up to look like an ass.
Since congress passed the "Cheeseburger Bill" which states that you cannot sue McDonald's (or any other fast-food establishment) for making you fat, here's my take: If "Super Size Me" caused McDonald's business to suffer in any way, shape or form, no way can they sue Morgan Spurlock for making this movie.
Morgan Spurlock's documentary, "Super Size Me," is an eye-opening look at the world of fast food, and the McDonald's company in particular.
The most shocking aspect of this film was seeing the effect this has on our most valuable asset: today's children.Until I watched this movie, I did not realize how many public schools have allowed commercial fast food restaurants to infiltrate their school lunch programs.
When I first heard about Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary "Super Size Me", I was pretty jaded, because common sense would dictate that if one eats fast food, they are going to have weight and health issues.
Indeed, this is what happened to Spurlock, however the magnitude of the health deterioration was astounding.Presented in a sometimes humorous format, "Super Size Me" is an experiment conducted by Spurlock in which he would only eat McDonald's food, three times a day, with the caveats that he would have to eat everything off the menu at least once, and that he would limit his exercise to the amount of exercise the "average" American gets per day.
Other than the experiment itself, "Super Size Me" is peppered with facts about the fast food industry and various interviews with industry insiders.I definitely found the film enjoyable, and somewhat informative (though having read Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, a lot of the information was old news) but there was something missing that is hard to grasp; perhaps the film needed a little more substance and cold hard facts instead of watching him constantly eat.
and fast food.Determined to get under the sagging skin of America's dysfunctional eating habits by existing on a McDonald's-only diet for one entire month, Morgan Spurlock deftly shows how closely these three are related.Eating three squares a day from the chain's menu and going super size whenever he's invited to do so, it's a long and painful odyssey as he throws up his first lunch and surfs downhill on a tide of grease from there.Even with regular medicals, it's not long before the processed fats, sugar and salt are turning his liver to paté, piling on the flab, killing his libido and leaving him depressed, lethargic and fighting off headaches relieved only by the next fix of junk food.In fairness to the Golden Arches, Spurlock guns for America's eating habits and the fast food industry as a whole, but there's little doubting McDonald's is among the worst offenders  the way it ruthlessly markets itself at children is perfectly captured with a montage of Ronald McDonald capering with the kids to Curtis Mayfield's Pusher Man.In a gluttonous First World intent on filling its boots with unhealthy, unethical garbage, Spurlock's is an intelligent, perceptive and often droll plea for sense and moderation  not to mention essential viewing for parents and anyone else who thinks the siren song of fast food is just a bit of harmless fun..
Morgan Spurlock's film is based on an experiment that uses himself as a guinea pig in which he ingests nothing but food and beverages sold by McDonald's for 30 days to see the results.
Super Sized Ego. The startling conclusion of this documentary is that if you stuff yourself with nothing but junk food and take no exercise for 30 days you'll get fat, and your body chemistry will be so banged up that on paper you'll look more like a flashlight battery than a human being..Spurlock must be an interesting guy.
In "Super Size Me", Morgan Spurlock takes a look "behind the counter", so to speak, in order to show us what that business really looks like.The premise of Spurlock's little experiment is quite simple: He will eat nothing but McDonald's food for an entire month (three meals a day), and has to super-size the meal if asked.
I have had an overeating problem my entire life.I have frequented all of the big name fast food joints you can name.I have always known that this was not the healthiest food in the world,but something over the years has always kept me going back.When I rented this film,I pretty much knew what to expect going in.Something told me that this man was going to really drive the point home about how unhealthy this food really is.Really,I was hoping to be scared into going on a permanent diet.It worked,at least for the most part.I watched this film about two months ago,and I have been on a diet since.I won't lie and say that I haven't been to a fast food place since.I have.I get in a hurry sometimes and don't have time to grab anything that's healthy.Part of the reason these places exist is because they know we often get in a hurry and have little choice but to get something that's made quickly.
For the most part though,I have eaten a lot healthier since viewing this,and I have shed pounds and am feeling much better,though there is a long way to go.This movie frightened me as well as any horror flick has over the years.Who would have thought a documentary could do that?I did object though to the scene where the film's maker,Morgan Spurlock,lost his lunch out of his car window.I don't believe it was necessary to see this.Otherwise,it was a true eye opener.It won't be going in my personal video collection though.Once is enough..
He would eat nothing but McDonalds for 30 days to see what would happen to him, highlighting the health consequences of over indulging in fast food--trying to explain the "obesity epidemic" that is taking place in the United States.But, what goes down has been proved to be incorrect and wrong.
And with his nutrition logs for that times never being disclosed, there's no way to prove anything.The documentary, by Spurlock, implies that people who eat fast food are lazy people who won't lift a finger if it doesn't mean picking up a hamburger.
Spurlock's documentary also suggests that people who eat fast food are stupid and the fast food industry is holding a gun to our heads to get that value meal or "super size"; which isn't true.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead (preferably not a McDonalds!)*Avoid At All CostsDocumentary film-maker Morgan Spurlock attempts to eat nothing but McDonalds for a month.He sets himself a few ground rules:1.)He must try everything on the McDonalds menu at least once.2.)He must eat a McDonalds snack for the three main meals of the day,breakfast,lunch and teatime.3.)If ever he is offered the chance to go "super-size" (which he frequently is) he must do so.Along the way,he enlists the help of three medical experts who monitor his health as he pursues his experiment.My interest in this film up to the point of actually going to see it fluctuated from eagerly anticipating going to see it when I first heard of it,to turning against it shortly after it's release after starting to consider the premise rather stupid.But having looked forward to it for so long,I decided to go and see it just to be sure.And,while Spurlock's idea remains a little silly,the film does itself an almighty favour by casting an all round critical eye on America's obesity epidemic without focusing on the knawingly irritating premise too much.We learn of the 19 and 14 year old girls who unsuccessfully attempted to sue the McDonalds Corporation for causing their overweightness problems,how they entice kids into their unhealthy eating plan with indoor play areas,merchandising gifts inside kids happy meals and such and how their empire has expanded into such unlikely locations as airports,service stations and even hospitals!All this manages to keep the film on an engaging track,along with all the other interesting facts and figures we learn along the way.The film hardly ever manages to be as funny and to apply as much comic relief as it had the potential to,scenes of graphic surgery and Spurlock vomiting will doubtless upset any particularly sensitive viewers out there and the film does sort of manage to drag a bit towards the end.But that's it's bad points.2004 has been the year of the documentary,and along with Michael Moore's box office breaking Fahrenheit 9/11,this attention-catching flick has managed to be an earning little gem.It is a documentary,and certainly worthy of it's title,as,despite it's flaws,it still manages to engage you right through to the end.It obviously didn't have that much of an effect on me though!Where did I go straight after seeing it?!?Straight down Broad Street......for a McDonalds!!!****.
I believe, that most people already know that junk food isn't the healthiest of all options, but they accept it, thus they have to live with the consequences.As I said, on the DVD there's bonus material that sets a few things right, as well as some deleted scenes (one of which is actually quite alarming concerning the daily garbage McDonald's produces, another one with an interesting experiment with fries, on which further investigation would have been of interest).
But the director also wants to make a point here, and denunciate MCDonalds that encourages customers to eat more (super size your meal type of commercials and at the counter) and the other hand says that eating its food is not dangerous.And the fact of showing in a spectacular way (you can see his health getting worse day after day) the effects of eating mc do for a month in a movie for a large audience will probably make people realize them more.Foe example everybody knows that driving fast is dangerous and can cause death (this is obvious right ?), but many people need to see dead corpses and accidents to really realize it.
The film shows Morgan Spurlock's fast food journey over a month of eating only McDonald's everyday.
Concerned about the fact that America has become the fattest nation in the world Morgan Spurlock looks at the hypothesis that part of this tendency is due to the exaggerated amounts of fast food that people are eating combined with their lack of physical exercise.
Yes, most people know that this stuff is bad for us, yet millions of us still eat it, some of us with frightening repetitiveness.Anyone with an ounce of empathy will find watching this film to be a harsh experience, even if one doesn't indulge in fast food fatality-baiting themselves.
During those 30 days he has to try every item on the menu and supersize any meals where the staff ask him.In between detailing the dire effects on his health, Spurlock includes a series of more detailed studies of aspects of fast food culture, including talking about addiction, "heavy users" and "super-heavy users" (McDonalds' terminology apparently), children's meals, branding, the lobbying power of the food industry, legal issues...I would rate the movie as a must see - but only once.
It definitely overshadows any efforts by "documentary" maker Michael Moore, with his legendary "facts".Seeing the effects on the body of a month of eating at McDonald's 3 meals a day and as an analysis of their mass marketing techniques, this was thoughtful, insightful and well structured.Definitely a must see, and the only disconcerting thing was how much his GP looked like Saddam Hussein !
Whats so effective about Super Size Me is that it takes a truism like fast food is junk and bad for the system, a fact self-evident to most but not important enough to effect their eating habits, and cystializes it, making it a real threat as opposed to an abstract danger that a lot of people acknowledge but don't act upon.
***No real spoilers ahead, as it is a documentary!***This was a great movie looking at the effects of fast food on a persons health.I know where it is coming from because I used to weigh 230 pounds (I am a barely 5'8" male) and lost 100 of them by cutting out bad fast food, as well as pasta, rice and other assorted heavy foods.After viewing this, my wife did not want to eat McDonalds again.
Interesting, illuminating documentary on the fast-food industry.Observing the obesity epidemic in the USA, a documentary film-maker, Morgan Spurlock, eats only MacDonalds meals, three times a day, for 30 days.
Morgan Spurlock's documentary "Super Size Me" shows just what a fast food diet will do to a person.
In the case of Super size Me, we have an individual, Morgan Spurlock, who makes a bet with himself that he will eat nothing but McDonald's food for a whole month and will record his progress through film.
The obvious reason is that the subject and conclusion of the movie finds relevance and resonance with a lot of people concerned about health and looks.Morgan Spurlock, writer, director and main "actor" in the documentary who seems like a health buff whose girlfriend is a vegetarian chef, undertakes to eat nothing but McDonald's fast foods for one month.