Fast Food Nation (2006, Movie) – 6/10 review

Director: Richard Linklater Writer: Eric Schlosser Writer: Richard Linklater Writer (Original Book): Eric Schlosser Executive Producer: Eric Schlosser Patricia Arquette: Cindy Bobby Cannavale: Mike Paul Dano: Brian Luis Guzman: Benny Ethan Hawke: Pete Ashley Johnson: Amber Greg Kinnear: Don Anderson Kris Kristofferson: Rudy Martin Avril Lavigne: Alice Esai Morales: Tony Catalina Sandino Moreno: Sylvia Lou Taylor Pucci: Paco Ana Claudia Talancón: Coco Wilmer Valderrama: Raul Bruce Willis: Harry Rydell

Fast Food Nation (2006) Vice President of Marketing for Mickey’s fast food chain Don Anderson investigates a high level of fecal matter in patties produced by a meat packing plant but from the top to the bottom of the organisation, shortcuts and corruption abound. 6/10 While hardly presenting shocking home truths (immigrant workers may be taken advantage of, cheap meat may not always be as safe as you’d expect and requires cooking, an abattoir is a gory, messy place full of animals being killed and dissected) and rather slackly paced (though never boring), this is reasonable enough viewing and fairly convincing. Director Richard Linklater supplies enough humanity and humour to counter-balance the ‘isn’t this awful’ posturing that it threatens to become and, together with writer Eric Schlosser, definitely makes you think. But probably not about the fast food industry. This movie contains sexual swear words, adult dialogue and substance abuse and gory and unpleasant industrial accident, gory and unpleasant abattoir scenes and sex scenes, nudity. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.