SUPERSIZE ME

[Duker]

Well put together documentary.... So freaking scary. Film maker eats only micky'ds for 3 meals a day for 30 days. Nearly dies. I will never eat there again. Fast food is runing america.

[PlayHarder]

Good movie, the amount of exercise average that he had to restrict himself to was scary.

[gincognito]

Finally saw this. The premise always seemed wonky to me: guy eats at Raunchy Ronald's for a month and suffers health issues. This is surprising?

But the film is much more than that. It's a look at the American food industry in general and the effect it is having on the people. And it's really well put together, humourously narrated and uses the gimmick for a personal touch and to string it all together. Really good stuff.

SaAaH (and has anyone tried the Smoking Fry experiment?),
d.
edit: and the guy really looks like mildbill...

[BobMc]

I thought it was a bit overdone. Granted, McDonalds doesn't have the healthiest of food, but, he seemed to will himself into feeling badly. He also appeared to eat the worst things on the menu. As someone who has probably eaten McDonalds 5 days a week for the last 20 years I can say I've never eaten a double quarter pounder.

Let's just say the movie had a definite Micheal Moore type agenda to it. I liked how most of the McDonalds eating people in the film were portrayed as bumbling idiots.

And yes, being as how I have two small children I've unknowningly played the Smoking Fry game. As soon as he poured those fries in the jar I knew they wouldn't change. I'm sure I could find a couple fries in my truck WAY older than 10 weeks. (Those who have been in my truck can back me up on that.) Those suckers seem to defy time.

BobMc

[gincognito]

I thought it was a bit overdone. Granted, McDonalds doesn't have the healthiest of food, but, he seemed to will himself into feeling badly. He also appeared to eat the worst things on the menu. As someone who has probably eaten McDonalds 5 days a week for the last 20 years I can say I've never eaten a double quarter pounder.

I think one of the conditions was that he had to have everything on the menu at least once.

But, yeah, even he admits that the experiment is taken to an extreme. All McDonald's diet combined with the amount of exercise that the average American gets = recipe for disaster. But the point is made and remains valid.

As for the Micheal Moore type agenda, that seems to be the new wave of documentary. No more objective filmmaker in the background. These guys have a point and will use their medium to get it across. I think it's obvious enough where they are coming from that I don't feel deceived or bludgeoned. Just provoked into thinking.

SaAaH (and it's fun to try to pick things apart),
d.

[Stu Gotz]

The most eye-opening part of the film were the school lunches. Is it really that hard for school officials to put a quality meal together for their students? It seems that the science of nutrition has been lost. And why do the students get choices? When I went to school, if you bought your meal, you got your main course, your side dish, your dessert and your milk. You had one choice for the day. No school should allow a student to get a meal of french fries. And I am not old.

And why do schools have vending machines? Is it really that difficult for a kid to go the day without a bag of chips or a can of soda? You get up, you eat breakfast. You go to school, you eat your lunch. You come home, you eat your dinner. When you are thirsty, you stop at the water fountain.

[Hugh Jass]

The most eye-opening part of the film were the school lunches.

Agreed. I'm sure that most viewers know what to expect with this film - fast food is bad for you. And in this extreme personal experiment, fast food was proven to be extremely bad. But exploring how the concept of cheap, easy, processed, unhealthy food has extended beyond McDonalds to school cafeterias was just plain scary.

If you rent the DVD, you've got to check out the interview with Eric Schlosser in the extras. I've read his book, Fast Food Nation, and he gives a great synopsis in the DVD interview. He ties it all together - health impacts, environmental impacts, societal impacts, etc. There are innumerable reasons to avoid fast food IMO.