FAST FOOD NATION

Starring: Wilmer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Greg Kinnear, Ethan Hawke, Avril Lavigne and Juan Carlos Serran

Directed by Richard Linklater

Based on the non-fiction book by Eric Schlosser

Blacking Out The Fiction Rating: ** out of *****

Had the chance to see Richard Linklater's new film, Fast Food Nation last night at a preview screening at the Cumberland. Linklater, best known for his theatrical snapshots of youth culture (Dazed and Confused, Slacker, SubUrbia) attempts to pull a Michael Moore and educate the world on the dark side of the fast food market. He fails miserably.

There was so much wrong about this film, I don't know where to begin. First off, who ever decided to take Eric Schlosser's fantastic book and make it into a fictional story needs to be shot. The subject matter would have lent itself much better to a documentary style film. The subject matter has already been covered ad nasuea by many films including Supersize Me, The Corporation and on Michael Moore's television program The Awful Truth. Nothing new was revealed (maybe except for the fact that cow manure has been known to show up in fast food burgers...but if you had read Schlosser's book, you would have already known this) and it was kind of like watching someone beat a dead horse (or in this case, a dead cow) for 2 hours.

But back to the movie itself. The plot follows three different stories, a small group of Mexican migrant workers, a marketing executive employed by the fictional fast food chain Mickey's, and a high school employee of Mickey's. The migrant workers flee Mexico to work in a meat packing plant that supplies patties to Mickey's. They are paid in cash under the table and risk their lives so North Americans can eat 99 cent burgers. One of them gets hurt, the other loses his legs. The one highlight to this aspect of the storyline was Catalina Sandino Moreno's performance. Wilmer looks lost without his buddies from that 70s show (or Lindsay Lohan on his arm for that matter). Greg Kinnear turns out a decent performance as a conflicted marketing exec. He's sent to investigate fecal matter that is consistently turning up in Mickey's beef patties. He's torn between reporting the truth and saving his job and inevitably chooses to ignore the truth and let the public eat shit. The third story line follows a high school student that works at Mickey's to help pay the bills at home. She meets some Eco-friendly activists (one of them being Avril Lavigne, who does a terrible acting job and looks like she's reading off cue cards the entire time, stick to the poppy mall punk music please) who educate her on the evils of the fast food industry. There are a ton of cameo performances (Bruce Willis, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristoffesen) that add nothing to the plot. There is a comical scene midway through the film where Ethan Hawke spouts verbal diarrhea about the importance of escaping life in small towns (again, does nothing to advance the plot, and is in typical Linklater "I'm soooo smart" dialogue).

All in all, a pretty crap film. Skip it and spend the $20 instead on the book. You'll get a lot more out of it.

Watch the film trailer here.

Read Slant Magazine's review here.

Read Eye Weekly's review here.

Read Now Magazine's review here.