Fast Food Nation

Plot synopsis:
Don Anderson is the Mickey's hamburger chain marketing director who helped develop the "Big One", its most popular menu item. When he learns that independent research has discovered a considerable presence of fecal matter in the meat, he travels to the fictitious town of Cody, Colorado to determine if the local Uni-Globe meatpacking processing plant, Mickey's main meat supplier, is guilty of sloppy production. Don's tour shows him only the pristine work areas and most efficient procedures, assuring him that everything the company produces is immaculate.
Suspicious of the facade he's been shown, Don meets rancher Rudy Martin, who used to supply cattle to the Uni-Globe plant. Rudy and his Chicana housekeeper both assure him that because of the plant's production level, several safety regulations are ignored or worked against; workers have no time to make sure that the manure coming from the intestines stays away from the meat. Don later meets with Harry Rydell, executive VP of Mickey's, who admits being aware of the issue, but is not concerned.
Amber is a young, upbeat employee of Mickey's, studying for college and living with her mother Cindy. While her life seems to be set, she continually faces the contrast between her current career and her own ambition, emphasized by her two lazy co-workers, Brian and Andrew, who, having heard of armed robberies at fast food restaurants in the area, start planning their own.
Amber and Cindy are visited by Cindy's brother Pete, who encourages Amber to leave town and start a real career. Amber eventually meets a group of young activists, Andrew, Alice, and Paco, who plan to liberate cattle from Uni-Globe as their first act of rebellion. They proceed to sneak up to a holding pen at the plant, but after breaking down the fence, they are shocked that the cattle make no attempt to leave. Upon hearing the police, they retreat and contemplate why the cattle decided to stay in confinement.
Raul, his love interest Sylvia, and Sylvia's sister Coco are illegal immigrants from Mexico, trying to make it in Colorado. They all go to Uni-Globe in hopes of finding a job - Raul becomes a cleaner, while Coco works on a meat processing conveyor belt. Sylvia, however, cannot take the environment, and instead finds a job as a hotel maid. Coco develops a drug habit, and begins an affair with her exploitative superior, Mike.
In a work accident, a friend of Raul's falls in a machine, and his leg is mangled. Raul, attempting to save him, falls and is injured. At the hospital, Sylvia is told that Raul was on amphetamines at work. Because Raul is now unable to work, Sylvia has sex with Mike in order to find a job at Uni-Globe. She ends up working on the "kill floor."

Tags: romantic, satire

Review:
The first time I tried was a few years back, after reading Eric Schlosser's non-fiction work, FAST FOOD NATION.
Unfortunately, Richard Linklater's narrative interpretation of Schlosser's novel is nowhere near as nauseating or as a big a turn-off as the feeling of a Big Mac sitting at the bottom of your stomach.The decision to translate FAST FOOD NATION from a non-fiction work of in-depth investigative journalism into a narrative film is a bold one.
Greg Kinnear plays Don Anderson, an advertising executive responsible for The Big One, the latest burger success at Mickey's, the fictional fast food chain at the center of the film.
Wilmer Valderrama and Catalina Sandino Moreno play Raul and Sylvia, two Mexican illegal immigrants who have been brought into the United States specifically to work at the rendering plant that manufactures the millions of patties that become The Big One. Very little is revealed about the characters themselves as they are merely symbols for the bigger picture.
A film that is trying to tell everyone, "America  this is what you've become," needs the audience to feel like this is their America.What FAST FOOD NATION best exemplifies is America's complacency with the progression of its society.
I really like Richard Linklater, the director of Fast Food Nation, because no matter what pop culture, market research, or his distributors tell him he continues to make movies where people talk.
I don't mean talk as in "Hasta la vista, baby," or some other cliché-ridden "isn't that clever" marketing jargon, but TALK, as in conversations; the kind that were common place before TV, the Internet, and X-Boxes.In Fast Food Nation, the film's message is mainly delivered through words.
Any Linklater film is going to be anticipated by fans of his work, and Fast Food Nation does not disappoint.Based on Eric Schlosser's non-fiction book of the same name, the film is a fictionalisation co-written by Schlosser and Linklater.
Sections are pieced together with a great line up of actors, such as Patricia Arquette, Bruce Willis, Ethan Hawke and Kris Kristofferson, each of whose characters are interesting enough to carry the film alone.The truth behind the burgers we eat is revealed through Mickey's Burgers Marketing Manager Don Henderson (Greg Kinnear) as he attempts to discover the source of faecal contamination of the burgers.
Though the story is American, there's relevance to Australia with the proliferation of fast food chains, the new IR laws, and cheap imported labour.The film is largely character-driven but be warned that there are some gruesome scenes towards the end  scenes that should and need to be seen.
Spurlock uncovered a plethora of grotesque truths about fast food that not only made you think about that kind of diet, but also offered a compelling cinematic experience.It is after witnessing a film as disappointing as Fast Food Nation, that one appreciates a work like Thank You For Smoking (2006) all the more.
While filmmaker Richard Linklater doesn't make very simple statements like 'fast food will make you fat', he does try to push the message that the sort of machinery of corporation is similar to that of the assembly line, is what is crippling to those entwined in the circle of cheap product made from dead meat.
However, I do expect that if a filmmaker wants to put forward the message- and boy does Fast Food Nation do that more than anything- to make the characters &/or story lines interesting in the dramatic framework.
Amber's story, on the other hand, is sort of the opposite- she is just a small-town girl living in a lonely world (as the song goes), and sometimes listening to idiotic plots to rob the Mickey's by his co-workers, while here and there figuring out the future for herself.What's both fascinating and frustrating about the film though could be seen sort of from Amber's storyline, where you see scenes that are convincing both in characters talking like real people (ala Ethan Hawke's moments), but also having not as much to do with the real 'message' going across that one might think- that is until Amber joins up with the young Animal-rights/ecological brigade and goes to cut a fence down to let the cows out.
Acting wise it's hit or miss- Moreno is fantastic in a role that ends her up seeing the actual slaughtering of cows (which is staggering, whatever you think about serving meat in fast food).
There's even a convincing one-note turn by the sleazy, pig manager of the assembly line job (I forget his name), but he too only get to have his character do what's required in the script.As I walked out of the theater I realized that this wasn't at all a bad film, in fact it's a a pretty decent effort at dramatizing in small-town/big-ensemble fashion what it is to have the ugliness of consumer productivity.
Famed writer/director Richard Linklater directs an A-list cast in a dramatized version of the best-selling book Fast Food Nation.
Richard Linklater did a tremendous job at turning Eric Schlosser's best-selling investigative book "Fast Food Nation" into a shocking and inspiring piece of fiction.
"Fast Food Nation" (the movie) has a giant all-star cast and focuses primarily on three intersecting story lines  the corporate executive who investigates claims that there is fecal matter in their meat patties, the teenage girl who works at a fast-food restaurant but becomes an environmental activist, and the illegal Mexican immigrants who risk their lives and dignity to work in the heinous slaughter houses and meat-packing plants.Do see this movie, but trust me when I advise you to not eat before walking into the theater.
There are snippets of nice storyline and characterisations, but they are few and far between.Catalina Sandino Moreno, as the main female character does a great job, and the storyline about the Mexican workers is well done, but the way the focus shifts between three main narratives, and some of the picayune detail of those stories is unwarranted, I feel.Some of the younger actors give the better performances, but Bruce Willis in particular is over the top and plays an almost clumsily drawn character.
It certainly doesn't work as a exploration of the fast food culture or the meat packing industry, and too much of the interesting depth in the book was glossed over, or missed altogether..
The movie is all about a few slightly interconnected story lines all about fast food, its culture in society, the way it's made, who it's made by, and even the disgusting truth behind what's in the meat.
The only one that stands out among this excess is Bruce Willis as the owner of the meat plant, who knows the unsanitary conditions and just doesn't care.Fast Food Nation is way overstuffed with far too many characters, story lines, and messages.
It is not nearly as eye opening as the book, and as a movie the only word to describe the experience is unsatisfying.I realize this review is very negative, so here are a few elements Fast Food Nation gets right.
The scenes spent inside the slaughter house are also very effective.Fast Food Nation just does not work as a movie.
The movie touches on important subjects in today's society (exploitation of Mexican immigrants, abusive US corporate power, the brutality of the meat industry, grass-root activism etc) but unfortunately it presents them in a shallow and dull way.
I had heard about how wonderful the book, Fast Food Nation was and I was impressed with the caliber of cast that participated - Greg Kinnear, Ethan Hawke, Academy award nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno, Luis Guzman, Esai Morales...and the others.However, as I sat in the screening room I was shocked at how badly this movie was made.
The writing at times felt like the actors were reading straight out of the book, the stories disjointed and unfocused which at times ended abruptly and left us wondering "what happened", the stereotypes abounded, especially those of the illegal immigrants.
The book was good and this movie had the opportunity to be insightful, but instead the characters are weak, the plot line non-existent, and the dialog is awful--it makes even someone awesome like Bruce Willis seem flaccid.
I was expecting this movie to be similar to the recent "Thank you for not smoking"- it is not.It was interesting seeing all the Hollywood cameos (I hope that they are all vegetarians) that must have really felt that they were delivering an important message by appearing in this stinker.This film is aimed squarely at the average dumb American who really never thought that cows are killed to make burgers and that there are really nasty businessmen that would happily sell s*** as food as long as it turns a profit.It is a bad, bad, bad movie.
The other major threads follow Greg Kinnear as an exec who has come to inspect the possibly poorly run mega-factory where the meat patties are produced, and a group of illegal immigrants (including Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno and surprisingly good TV comedian Wilmer Valderrama) who work at the mega-factory in dangerous conditions.
I also highly recommend the film to anyone who works at a fast food restaurant, or eat a lot of it, or just to anyone, WATCH THIS MOVIE, it will change what you do every time you walk into a fast food place.
This little film adapted by Richard Linklater from Eric Schlosser's frightening book is agonizingly biting and insightful: if you elect to watch it, be prepared for some ugly facts that may just produce insomnia.Don Henderson (Greg Kinnear) is a marketing strategist for 'Mickey's', a fast food chain that is highly successful in selling millions of 'The Big One' (the comparisons to the McDonald's Big Mac are not subtle!) and discovers that the meat patties have been found to grow E.
And so the plethora of story lines begin: the film examines the illegal immigrants from south of the border brought in by coyotes, treated like dirt, and given jobs 'cleaning' the meat plant and working the food chopping lines and eventually the killing and slaughtering of the cattle whose housing conditions are filth personified; the teenage workers who people the Mickey's chain are shown to be discontent and equally capable of planning robberies as they are of attempting to free the soon-to-be-burgers cattle; the callous corporate types who cover the facts in favor of increasing monetary gain; the plant workers who abuse the immigrant workers in every way possible; the utter boredom of the populace of Cody and the resultant pacified response to the 'big problems' that seethe through their town.
Yes, it is an expose of corruption on many levels, but the film doesn't stop there.Linklater and Schlosser are careful to include the individuals caught up in the mess and those individuals run the gamut from the immigrants who only want to find a better way of life and will subject themselves to horrors both in their trek across the border and the mistreatment in the factories to find it, to the honest men of the corporations, the ranchers, and the teenagers who try to make a stand against the many problems that overwhelm them.
And that is what makes the film so moving: it personalizes rather than generalizing.The cast is huge and without exception excellent: Greg Kinnear, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Willis, Bobby Cannavale, Ashley Johnson, Paul Dano, Patricia Arquette, Luis Guzmán, Wilmer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Ana Claudia Talancón, Juan Carlos Serrán, Armando Hernández, Esai Morales, Ethan Hawke, Avril Lavigne...the cast just goes on and on.
I will say that Richard Linklater's movie version of Eric Schlosser's expository "Fast Food Nation" could have been better.
Bruce Willis' character represents the other side of the coin who basically says- nobody is making immigrants come here (a big mac and a pair of Nikes is probably still better than what they had), plus plenty of other things kill people besides fast food.
But, I wasn't out to win awards; I was simply surviving.But that road trip effectively killed my liking for any fast food from any FFJ - forever.And, that's another reason I thoroughly enjoyed Fast Food Nation: despite the often heavy-handed socio-political docudrama feel of this film, it's a good story, well acted, and  best of all  timely.The narrative traces the interactions of various people in Cody, Colorado  apparently the place that has the biggest cattle corral in the world and where most of the meat patties for hamburgers are made.
Greg Kinnear as Don Anderson, is an executive for a hamburger chain who's trying to get to the bottom of fecal contamination in their product; Kris Kristofferson is a disgruntled and angry rancher, Rudy Martin, with the inside dope on dirty meat from the nearby slaughterhouse and meat packaging company; Luis Guzman plays the part of a wetback smuggler, Benny, another link in the dirty chain of lousy meat product but big, meaty profits for unethical corporations; Ashley Johnson as Amber is the local girl who wakes up to the truth about fast food while working at Mickey's Big One chain; Patricia Arquette, as her mother Cindy, appears briefly, but effectively; and, Ethan Hawke, as the footloose uncle Pete, attempts to provide worldly advice for Ashley.But, for the piece de resistance, who better to appear than Bruce Wills, as Harry Rydell, to vigorously argue the case for fast food to serve a hungry and growing nation, not to mention the world.
You have doctored reports, tales from the production floor, sexual favours, poor work conditions and lack of benefits, and tons of lies.Richard Linklater movies have dialogue which rock, and there is no lack of those in Fast Food Nation.
There is a scene in Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation where two illegal Mexican immigrants sit in the back of a pickup truck as they are being carted off to work at a meat packing plant in a midsize Colorado town.
This film tells the stories of people who work in the fast food industry, including top management, store manager, cashier, and illegal workers in meat processing plants.
Meanwhile, Mexican family crosses over the border of Mexico and moves to Colorodo where husband Raul (played by Wilmer Valderrama) gets a job at the meat factory, only to witness the horrifying truth of the backbone behind the fast food industry.This film is written with a somewhat similar story structure to Richard Linklater's other works which often revolve around the social interactions of characters and personal relationships.
Linklater's style of writing doesn't quite work as well here as it does in his other films, but luckily it manages to get its crucial message out that could have viewers thinking twice before making another trip to a fast food restaurant.Fast Food Nation is a fine movie with some fine performances by a solid cast and fine writing despite its flaws in direction.
Her sister Sylvia is not happy with the relationship and her drug use.Director Richard Linklater is adapting the scathing investigative book on the fast food industry by layering three stories on top of the material.
I guess I was misled because my video rental service classifies this film as a comedy, but in their defense, I noticed on another Fox Searchlight DVD that Fast Food Nation is listed in the previews section entitled "Other Comedies from Fox Searchlight." It definitely is not a comedy but instead, a sobering look at a number of disturbing aspects of big business in the United States.The film plays out as a series of extremely well acted character vignettes that serve to expose the factual information gathered by Schlosser for his book.The story focuses on three different groups of people who are all connected through a huge slaughter and meatpacking facility that provides meat for a McDonald-like fast food chain.Corporate headquarters is represented by an executive (Greg Kinnear) who is sent to investigate why fecal matter is showing up in the meat.
An impressive achievement of making a fictional movie based on a factual book (which I haven't read, but will!) about the rotten state of the American burger industry, both when it comes to treating animals and human employees- predominantly illegal Mexian immigrants.
None of that happens here.The Insider, again showed us how to tackle the Tobacco industry using a compelling true account, and telling the story in very dramatic fashion.Fast Food Nation is like a mix between both of those movies, minus the drama, comedy, and lacking a well told story.
It is a film made by vegetarians Richard Linklater and Greg Kinnear that attempts to open our eyes to the horror of one of our everyday activities: Eating.While "Fast Food Nation" is a fictionalized and dramatized version of the non-fiction book of the same name, it is hard to judge it like a normal movie.
And I'm sure the meat eaters/fast food eaters amongst you might have gotten that feeling as well, so that many people will disregard the message simply because of the way it was conveyed.This is a first for me: I'm going to complain about the use of sex in a film.
If Eric schlosser, the author of the book this film is based on, tried to get me off meat (Fat chance of that happening) than his take on the fast food industry is irrelevant.
But, before I alienate too many people, allow me to flesh out the movie a little.The story follows Greg Kinnear, an executive at a fictional fast food chain called Mickey's, from an optimistic meeting to the source of the meat he's just learned is tainted with fecal traces.
It is about so much more than just fast food.I must admit that I am somewhat biased, as I am a big fan of Richard Linklater's work (A Scanner Darkly is also excellent, and is an equally important film with a much needed message).
Greg Kinnear's character is also interesting as the fast food executive, I think that the way his story dropped off a little too soon was one of the few things I didn't quite like about the film.