Film Reviews

Fast Food Nation

• Rating:
• Director: Richard Linklater.
• Starring: Greg Kinnear, Wilmer Valderrama, Ashley Johnson, Bruce Willis.
• Details: US / 116mins (15A).

"This is not good people versus bad people - it's about the machine taking over the country." Fast Food Nation, adapted from Eric Schlosser's best-selling book and given a narrative makeover by Linklater, attempts to encompass three loosely-connected storylines. Greg Kinnear's marketing executive at Mickey's, a popular fast food chain, is sent to a meat processing factory by his superiors to investigate claims that there is faecal matter in the meat, Wilmer Valderrama's 'border jumper' lands in the US and gets a job at one of Mickey's abattoirs while Amber (Johnson) contemplates a future with some college activists while working the till at a Mickey's outlet. Focussing on a theme rather than a straightforward narrative, Fast Food Nation is an ordinary looking movie and feels like it was written and directed by an angry student with no budget. It's odd to think that with the recent popularity of documentaries with the movie going public that Linklater thought this was the best way to go, given the powerful material at hand. Its subplots don't click into place, like we're watching three separate movies that are cut together without thinking of the big picture - as if TV3 were in charge of editing. Even though the 'plot' lacks bite (pun intended), characterisation is the movie's low point. No one feels like a real person and all they do is wait around until Linklater makes another none-too-subtle point. Although there are a lot of grievances with the film, the idea behind it is noble and maybe it needed the 'hit-them-o'er-the-head-with-a-mallet' lesson on fast food.

Review by Gavin Burke