Fast Food Nation Reviews

Fast Food Nation is a drama that will make you rethink about running out and get a quick meal at a fast food place. Based on the best selling book of the same name the producers decided to make a drama of the book rather than the documentary that most people would produce. This was a potentially risky move however it succeeded in attracting a wider audience. The film touched on many topics in the fast food industry including the low paid fast food workers, the farmers who grow the livestock, the slaughterhouses and the undocumented workers who often work in these high risk, low paying jobs. The movie did a good job in showing viewers about each of these issues in an interesting and informative way. I really enjoyed the movie for both its cinematic and educational aspects and would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed movies like Super Size Me. Just make sure you satisfy your junk food craving before watching the movie!!!

Ok. I have no idea how to review this thing. Regular mediums I use might not work here. But I'll still give it a go. First of all, in my opinion this thing is marketed as if it was a comedy of some kind. I warn you, it is not a comedy. It is an extremely dark drama, with very little, if any, dark humour in it. If you go into this expecting a comedy, you will be shocked. That is what happened to me. I try to keep my expectations as low as possible on all movies, but here I didn't quite succeed. Perhaps that worked to the movie's benefit, who knows. Anyhow, what should I comment on... The directing was pretty weird for a change. Fast Food Nation propably has the steadiest pace in a movie I've seen in ages, it movies extremely smoothly on it's blood and fat stained tracks like the midnight express. I just ain't all too used to a speed like that, usually all movies have atleast one part where the pace fastens up or slows down significantly. Fast Food Nation did not have one of those moments. Nowadays that is nearly an absurdity. Otherwise the directing was somewhat good, the lighting and overall cinematography deserve huge props, and the audiovisuality was excellent. Everything else about that section were somewhat mediocre though, even though by no means were they unfulfilling. They were simply there, nothing more or less. I think it quite suited the movie, because extreme experimentation with the colour scheme or something might've distracted us from the point of the movie.

And what is that point? I don't know. To show us things we've known for ages. Things like the unhumane treating of workers in meat packing plants, or the unhumane treating of cattle. Perhaps to how some people are so afraid of losing their jobs that they're willing to sacrifice the health of thousands of americans. It tries to enlighten us but it really just shows things that we've known for a fine while now. But that's just it. Fast Food Nation SHOWS innocent cows getting brutally slaughtered. It shows work accidents caused by drug abuse that's almost a have-to in a place like that. And it is so fucking sad. I did cry during the end and after the film. There's this scene in the end which is audiovisually so incredibly touching that it's hard to describe. Basically we just see what happens in "the kill floor" in the meat packing plant. It's propably the most depressing scene in modern cinema as of late. Really depressing.

The acting and such are good. Valderrama doesn't blow anyone away really, but on the other hand the guy did play Fez for ages and while watching this, you really don't feel like he'd be Fez, which is great. Kinnear and the other veterans give strong, admirable solid performances all around and are enjoyable to watch. Actually, Willis and Kinear really do give performances that enchance the movie in a way. Avril Lavigne also makes an appereance, and no, she isn't annoying as hell. Actually she was already great in Over The Hedge, and here she plays it appropiately low-key and well. Ashley Johnson has got to be one of my favourite current young female actors. She is such a damn cutie and fits her role perfectly, since she's one of those actors that can remain natural no matter what, and that is exactly what her role requires here.

Overall this is a solid, different, depressing and great movie. I loved it and it made me cry, and also I will propably never eat a hamburger again at a fast food place.

[PORTUGUESE] Não gosto de filmes que excedem em personagens e tramas, mas o que me interessou nesse longa foi sua forma política misturada com um toque de humor negro para argumentar sobre o que há de verdade atrás dos deliciosos hamburgueres de fast-food que pessoas de vários países consumem todos os dias. Confesso que faltou muito pouco para eu me tornar um vegetariano após assití-lo (a cena do abatedouro é realmente chocante). O pontos negativos no filme foram principalmente as aparições de atores, como Ethan Hawke, sem necessidade no longa, nos obrigando a termos que aguentar alguns diálogos chatos e desnecessários.

Fast Food Nation takes a look at how the fast food industry affects people's lives and by doing so examines fast food culture, corporate america and illegal immigration. It is based on Eric Schlosser's non-fiction book of the same title.

I don't know why I got the impression this movie was a comedy because it's not. It's a DRAMA about how corporations control our lives and the lengths that they will go to in order to maintain their profit margin. Richard Linklater capably directs an ensemble cast, letting you follow each one, almost like a documentary.

Sometimes funny, at other times ironic or tragic, Fast Food Nation is ultimately quite depressing. Even though each character's life is changed by the end of the movie - some for good, others for bad, there is this feeling of hopelessness - the impossibility of taking on the corporate american behemoth.

I don't eat a lot of fast food but I can't bring myself to eat a Big Mac after watching this movie, especially because of the last 10 minutes.