Fast Food Nation
If you're still eating that fast-food burger after watchingSuper Size Me, you might not feel too hungry after watchingFast Food Nation, a fictionalized feature based on Eric Schlosser's bestselling nonfiction expose. Director Richard Linklater, who cowrote the screenplay with Schlosser, guides a topnotch ensemble cast through a peek behind the veil of how that Big Mac is born. Much of the film focuses on the illegal immigrants who work in the loosely regulated meat-packing industry, and actors including the luminous Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), who plays a desperate but outraged laborer. Greg Kinnear also delivers a spot-on performance as a fast-food chain marketing manager, trying frantically to discover the source of stomach-turning contamination in the company's meat. Stories are woven in unexpected ways, and cameos by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, and especially Bruce Willis keep the narrative fresh. The film has a point of view, but thanks to Linklater's deft touch, is never didactic. As Willis's character slyly says, "Most people don't like to be told what's best for them." Agreed, yetFast Food Nationlikely will help the viewer be more conscious of what's on the end of that fork. --A.T. HurleyExtras fromFast Food NationFast Food NationArcade-Style GameBeyondFast Food NationSuper Size MeFast Food Nation (Paperback)Fast Food Nation: Music from and Inspired by the Motion PictureStills fromFast Food Nation