May 7, 2004
Super Size Me
Gothamist doesn't need to be told twice to see a documentary about a man committing liver kamikaze by eating McDonald's food for 30 days straight, in Super Size Me. Since it premiered at Sundance, Morgan Spurlock's documentary about his attempt to emulate the diet of the average American (in McDonald's eyes, at least, as it was partly due McDonald's claims that their food was healthy that Spurlock embarked on this project) while trying to stay alive has generated a lot of buzz. Whether it's the sheer conceit of eating McDonald's fast food three meals a day, all across the country, or Spurlock's doctor telling him he's like the Nic Cage character in Leaving Las Vegas, killing himself with fast food instead of alcohol, there's something about alluring about fast food. Maybe because it's tastes so good and it's so cheap and convenient, all the health hazards aside. Anyway, even though some might call this a gimmick, it's one with legs.
Read Stephanice Zacharek's review of Super Size Me in Salon (today's Salon ultramercial is for Saved! which looks hysterical, by the way). Check out Eric Schlosser's book, Fast Food Nation, which exposes the scary underbelly of fast food.
Super Size Me is playing at both art house and bigger movie theaters. Check Moviefone or Fandango for details. And here are some other movies that are a little more off the radar but worth seeing: I'm Not Scared, The Argonomist, and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring.
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agree about Saved.
"...movies that are a little more radar..." I like that adjectival use of radar. Is this some hip slang I've completely missed out on?
Jen, did you mean "off the radar" or have I also just revealed my lack of hip slang knowledge?
I accidentally deleted off. Apologies.
I haven't eaten, or set foot, in a McDonald's restaurant for over 5 years, and I feel really good about that. (Prior to that visit, it had been three years.)
McDonalds is actually pretty expensive. I think a super sized value meal is around 6 bucks now. Theres a health food store in my neighborhood that has a salad bar and steam trays with hot food, and you can get a huge pile of tasty healthy food made from organic veggies and free range meats for about 6 bucks a plate. Thats about the same price as a meal froma fast food restaurant and so mch better for you. The whole "fast food is inexpensive" thing is really just a myth.
Hmm, now that I think about it, thats a New Yorker's privilege; I guess once youre out in middle america, there arent many alternatives to fast food...
Is burritoville fast food? Even if I get a whole wheat tortilla? Can't kid myself anymore that it's healthy, huh?
The last Esquire had a fairly scathing review of Super Size Me written by the ubiquitous Chuck Klosterman. I didn't read it but scanned enough of it to know it was a diss.
Last month, I went back home to Texas (which, according to the movie, has 4 of the fattest cities in USA now) and McDonald's meals were dirt cheap there. In the airport, I was forced to eat at McDonald's because there was no other choice. I got a value meal for 4 bucks! Here in Chelsea, the McD's charges 7 bucks for the same thing! How avg income New Yorkers can afford even McDonald's is beyond me. I agree with the previous post...you can eat much better/healthier for cheaper or the same cost.
i read that the reason he got so sick was because he forced himself to eat the most fattening, largest options each and every time he dined, and also forced himself to finish every bite even if he was full. to contrast, there is a woman who is doing a similar 'mcdonald's only for a month' documentary, and she (and her doctor) assert that in moderation there's nothing wrong with eating fast food. this is just "food for thought" (bad pun)...and for the record, i still think fast food is gross.
but the egg mcmuffin! so tasty!!
I'm still intrigued by the premise of the film. I may not be taken in by Mel Gibson's Jesus story but I will see something that involves vomiting McDonald's food!
Agreed. Even though Mel Gibson's "Passion" is much more radar than "Super Size Me," it's the smaller movie that's more intriguing.
Simon, it may astonish you to learn that there are restaurants (good ones, even) outside of New York and LA. In fact, there's even a place called "Chicago"--somewhere in Middle America, it's so hard to differentiate all those boxy states--that has quite a few of them. While nothing of true value could exist outside the five boros, you might consider a short visit to Middle America, perhaps if only for the broadening experience that will make a fascinating tale at dinner parties, muggings, or whatever else it is that convinces New Yorkers that life must be ever so drab west of the Hudson.
I have had to stop eating out for lunch due to finances and now I bring my lunch from home. I think I have lost five pounds, and have a lot more energy. I think restaurant food, fast food or not, is not a healthy way to eat.
Humphrey Bogus is totally wrong. I'm forced to live outside the five boros, and there's nothing between the coasts that is a "broadening experience"... unless by "broadening" he means "fattening", in which case I agree -- there's plenty of fat folk between the Appalachians and the Rockies. And Chicago only has decent steak -- no other reason to go there.
Humphrey, I'm sure there are plently of good restaurants outside of New York, just not as many alternatives to fast food at the lower-cost end of the spectrum. People in big cities tend to be better educated and more prone to eat better food than rural / suburban people who eat things like "shit on a shingle" and "chicken fried steak" and "white gravy and biscuits"
read about the demographics of obesity here and draw your own conclusions:
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/e_txtbk/ratnl/212.htm