Super Size Me
Written and Directed by: Morgan Spurlock

In the past few years Michael Moore has done a lot to legitimatize documentaries in theeyes of mainstream moviegoers; Bowling For Columbine was very successful because itwas accessible and entertaining (read: shocking and provocative) first and foremost, with thegoal of being educational and well-researched somewhat secondary.Which is of course not to say that his movies are bad, just that they use a different approach to documentary filmmaking that sheds the illusion of objectivity by becoming directly involved in the material. By allowing himself, the “average joe”,to be the main character and star in his movies it makes them much more aggressive and effective in gettingtheir message across.Not surprisingly, we are seeing now that Moore’s tactics have given rise to a number of other wanna-beguerilla filmmakers, all trying to make a name for themselves in the same way whether it be poking fun of somethingor bringing down the system with their own indie movie.

In Super Size Me, movie/commercial/TV producer Morgan Spurlock decides to take a stab at an issue that may notbe as controversial as gun control and violence, but is still a big potential threat to North American life.I’m sure I don’t have to spell it out for you, the film is about fast food, obesity and poor nutrition.The driving force behind the movie is Spurlock’s decision to conduct a rather unenviable experiment on himself:he will eat nothing but McDonald’s food for 30 days straight, 3 meals a day, always “super sizing” his mealwhen asked. Along the way he checks in with 3 doctors and a nutritionist for general health updates and advice.His findings, while extreme in some ways, should come as no big surprise. A steady diet of McDonald’s isbad for you, and yes, even potentially life-threatening.

Throughout the movie it seems that Spurlock has stolen a lot of techniques from Moore’s bag of tricks,including his personal narration, the use of funny cartoons, graphs and charts to illustrate points,interviews and situations that seem suspiciously pre-arranged at times, shocking and graphic images(footage of himself vomiting, and a liposuction operation, for example)and applying silly and ironic music wherever possible (including the late Wesley Willis’ “Rock andRoll McDonald’s”).Like Moore’s movies too, you do get a sense that the filmmaker is firmly pushing you towards one sideof the story, however, there are some moments where he provides opposing points of view too.For example, Spurlock investigates the nutrition at a typical school cafeteria and finds it to bedisgustingly poor. Instead of simply pointing the finger however, he shows that an alternative existsby interviewing faculty from a school in Wisconsin that went out of their way to come up with a healthymenu for students. There is also an interesting balance struck by having Spurlock’s girlfriend in the movie,a vegan chef whose views he clearly distances himself from where possible. Again this maintains hisimage as the every man, by proving that he is not any sort of radical “extremist” (that is, if you considervegans to be “extremists”).

One side of the story that is unfortunately missing here is that of the McDick’s corporation themselves.Although we see Spurlock calling numerous times to set up an interview with a PR person, they neverget back to him. This is a little disappointing and does leave a small hole in the movie, but he avoidsa predictable finale where he would storm their corporate headquarters and demand change. Either he didn’thave the balls, or he knew it wouldn’t have been worth the effort.One can only guess that Spurlock would have ambushedany McDonald’s representative in much the same way Michael Moore goes after Charlton Heston,and really, what defense do they have? Money is the bottom line for McDonald’s, andthey’re making plenty of it. Plain and simple.

In the end you come away from Super Size Me feeling entertained but not necessarily enlightened.The fact that his health was actually endangered by his McDonald’s binge was surprising butdid seem a little exagerrated. It didn’t help that we had to rely on his own personal commentary abouthow he was feeling for the most part, while the doctors seemed too emotionally detached togive a clear impression of the true gravity of the situation.Spurlock did interview some interesting and amusing people, such as Don Gorske (the guy who eats 2 Big Macs a day and isn’t fat) and Jared Fogle(”The Subway Guy”), but they didn’t really do much other than fill up time.

Sadly the gimmick of eating McDonald’s for an entire month is the big draw to this movie, andalthough there are some interesting angles (especially the marketing of McDonald’s to kids andthe state of nutrition in schools), overall there was not enough extra research done to flesh it all out.It may have been more interesting to focus on obesity in general instead of just fast food or just McDonald’s,but of course McDonald’s is such an easy target who could resist?

Still, the movie does accomplish some good; although people know fast food is unhealthy they maynot realize just how bad it is. And even though the average person would never dream of consumingas much McDonald’s food as Spurlock did in this movie, there are some people out there whose eating habits are dangerously close. This movie puts the issue out there and encourages discussion and awareness, andfor that reason alone I hope it gets a wider release so that more people can see it.Also worth noting: McDonald’s has apparently stopped their “Super Size” promotions, a move whichmay or may not have been precipitated by the pressure from this film.

I would not recommend this movie to people looking to laugh their ass off or hoping for anotherpolitical filmmaker who will get in the faces of celebrities and corporate bigwigs.However, it is still interesting and Morgan Spurlock does prove that he has charisma, wit and a senseof humour that could give Michael Moore a run for his money one of these days. — Sean