Fast Food Nation
Richard Linklater (Dazed And Confused, A Scanner Darkly) helms this adaptation of Eric Schlosser’s best-seller. Intriguingly, the filmmakers have taken the adventurous step of turning this non-fictional book into a fictional film. Says Linklater: "[We wanted to do] a character study of the lives behind the facts and figures of fast food".
The Big One is the latest burger from fast-food chain Michey’s (not McDonalds, yet very much McDonalds) and it’s shaping up to be their most successful product yet. However, there’s something strange in the meat. Company man Don (Greg Kinnear) is sent to investigate the meat packing plant in Cody, Colorado. The story examines fast food industry goings on via Don's visit; a group of illegal immigrants from Mexico who can only find jobs at that plant; and a group of highschool kids who work at a Mickey’s outlet.
- Director:
- Richard Linklater ('Slacker', 'Dazed & Confused', 'Waking Life', 'School Of Rock', 'Bad News Bears', 'A Scanner Darkly')
- Writer:
- Richard LinklaterEric Schlosser
- Cast:
- Greg KinnearPatricia ArquetteLuis GuzmanPaul DanoEthan HawkeKris KristoffersonLou Taylor PucciAvril LavigneBruce Willis
Reviews & comments
Good but not Great
While I found the book of the same name to be quite compelling, the fictitious adaptation seemed to fall flat. What was so interesting about the book was the history of the industry, the artificiality of the product and especially the marketing of the companies, how they roped us in as children and why we kept going back. The film, while it includes such...
Variety
pressIt remains appealing for its subversive motives and revelations even as one wishes its knife would have been sharper...
New Zealand Herald
pressMinces its storytelling through its ambitious multi-narrative structure and really leaves you none the wiser...
Lumiere Reader
pressCrucially, Linklater withholds the urge to make fun. And that’s precisely why Fast Food Nation hurts. Uninterested in straining comedy from the mire, or camouflaging relevance in a marketable fantasy, Linklater proceeds to bite right for the core. He’s deadly serious. By sandwiching stricken characters between a quasi-oppressive bun – each victims of circumstance, each accessories to the act, each deployed to the four corners of the fast food brethren in a seemingly unbreakable chain of command – he leaves a bad taste of smothering disquiet and futility...
Variety
pressIt remains appealing for its subversive motives and revelations even as one wishes its knife would have been sharper...
New Zealand Herald
pressMinces its storytelling through its ambitious multi-narrative structure and really leaves you none the wiser...
Lumiere Reader
pressCrucially, Linklater withholds the urge to make fun. And that’s precisely why Fast Food Nation hurts. Uninterested in straining comedy from the mire, or camouflaging relevance in a marketable fantasy, Linklater proceeds to bite right for the core. He’s deadly serious. By sandwiching stricken characters between a quasi-oppressive bun – each victims of circumstance, each accessories to the act, each deployed to the four corners of the fast food brethren in a seemingly unbreakable chain of command – he leaves a bad taste of smothering disquiet and futility...
Good but not Great
While I found the book of the same name to be quite compelling, the fictitious adaptation seemed to fall flat. What was so interesting about the book was the history of the industry, the artificiality of the product and especially the marketing of the companies, how they roped us in as children and why we kept going back. The film, while it includes such...
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