Director:
Morgan Spurlock
Starring:
Morgan Spurlock
Release: 7 May 04
IMDb
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Super Size Me
BY: DAVID PERRY
Morgan Spurlock may be the new Michael Moore (well, until our
man from Flint releases his Cannes winning Fahrenheit 9/11), making a
documentary in which the audience becomes increasingly uncomfortable with
his persona but still intrigued by his findings. I’m already on record
criticizing Moore for Bowling for Columbine, but Spurlock’s stature a hack
director with a meaningful subject is more pressing. I cringed every time I
saw the man, but I can’t say he didn’t convince me (something Moore has yet
to do).
Spurlock, defying the Atkins diet (it’s about time!), puts his body through
the ringer by eating only McDonalds for a month. Since there are already
thousands of people who already do this, one might imagine that his body
deformation would be anticlimactic, but the impact is that he’s a fairly fit
guy for his age at the beginning, and, by the last few days, doctors are
already warning him to cut back or die.
Sure, I quit fast food years ago because I was tired of dealing with its
promotional clout and over-processed offerings (I did not, as many people
have accused me of, do it after reading Fast Food Nation), so perhaps I
count as the choir for Spurlock’s preacher, but it’s hard to discount his
results. Super Size Me isn’t a particularly well made film, but I think it
has some worth in what it shows. Not everyone’s body is the same as his;
some could do this diet and let their metabolism wring the Big Macs through.
But, with an alarmingly obese nation, I fear that his is the micro story of
a macro epidemic.
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