PREMIERE.COM'S REVIEW (posted 5/17/04)

In his fun, frank, and sometimes gross documentary, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, a "fitter than average" New Yorker, sets out to discover why Americans are so fat. (Two out of every three adults are overweight or obese.) He interviews lawmakers, nutrition experts, gym teachers, and even a former surgeon general. He pops in on school lunchrooms and phys ed classes to observe our chubby kids. Finally—and here’s the hook—Spurlock goes on a 30-day all-McDonald’s diet to prove just how much damage can be done by a steady diet of all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese . . . Know the rest? By heart? Well, Spurlock argues, that’s because fast food chains like McDonald’s are omnipresent, offering cheap, tasty eats to the busy, the poor, and the fat-carb-and-sugar addicted.

Spurlock, a genial man who readily admits he likes a good Big Mac, makes an interesting case, though his evidence is mostly anecdotal. True, three doctors, a nutritionist, and a trainer supervise his McDiet and analyze its devastating effects—his weight skyrockets, his liver gets fatty, and, as his vegan chef girlfriend confides, he has some trouble getting it up—but the science isn’t quite convincing. Such a drastic diet change—from a sort-of vegan diet to an all McDonald’s diet—might shock anyone’s system. More effecting are his forays into the fatty, salty world of American children. Like the lunchrooms, where schoolkids choose all french-fry lunches (uggh!) and the available "healthy" food comes preprepared in military-surplus–like boxes. He also shows how McDonald’s does a Joe Camel on kids, hosting birthday parties, packaging Happy Meals with hot toys, and providing, in some communities, the only playground for miles.

Made with obvious passion and humor (and a side of fries), Super Size Me is a mostly entertaining look at fast food, the billion-dollar businesses behind it, and its warped effect on our culture. It's about 20 minutes too long, and kinder and gentler than the subversive truth-telling of, say, Penn & Teller's Showtime series, Bullshit. Still, you’ll think twice about Chicken McNuggets. The film may not be definitive, but it should be a must-watch in every junior high health class.

—Kelly Borgeson