Super Size Me
Reviewed By Rich Drees

     When two teenagers decided to sue the McDonalds fast food restaurant chain with a claim that the food contributed to their weight problems, most people probably dismissed the news story with a roll of the eyes and a muttered "Well what did they expect?" Morgan Spurlock decided to actually see what one should expect from eating too much fast food, condemning himself to a three meals a day for a month from McDonalds. The results are chronicled in his funny and thoughtful documentary Super Size Me.

     Spurlock confines himself to a few simple rules during his experiment. The only thing he can eat is what's on the menu at McDonalds. He has to eat three meals a day. If the counter person asks if he would like to "super size" his meal, McDonald's upsizing of a meal's french fries and soda, Spurlock had to go with the bigger portion. Spurlock recruits the help of three doctors and a nutritionist to help him track what will happen to his body, and the results startle not just but him but the health professionals as well. In just 30 days, he manages to pack on 27 pounds, has eaten the equivalent of 30 pounds of processed sugar and shot his cholesterol level up by over 65 points. His diet more than doubles his caloric intake and surprises his doctors by causing roughly the same amount of liver damage as a severe bout of binge drinking would. His diet even affects his sex life, we are told by his girlfriend, ironically a vegan chef.

     But the film is more than an hour and half of one guy eating Big Macs. During his month long gastronomical odyssey, Spurlock travels the country investigating obesity and the nutrition habits of America. He looks at school lunch programs that don’t offer much nutritional value versus some programs that do supply good foods and teach children the importance of balanced meals. To be sure, no one expects that a diet composed entirely of fast food would be nutritionally sound. But given the hectic pace most Americans live at, fast food is making up more of our diet than is probably good for us.

     It's hard to watch this film and not draw comparisons to documentarian Michael Moore's first feature Roger And Me. Spurlock is an amiable, average Joe, with a devilish glint in his eye. Both films address the idea of balance between a corporation’s responsibility to the community it’s a part of and its profit margin. But where Moore wasn’t afraid to confront the target of his film, General Motors CEO Roger Smith, we instead get a montage of Spurlock’s phone attempts to land an interview with someone from McDonald’s board of directors.

     There’s an old joke about bartenders being able to cut off drunks, but waiters are not able to cut off fat people. Hopefully, though, Spurlock’s film is enough to give some Americans pause before they head into a fast food joint for large hamburger, soda and jumbo order of fries.