Fast Food Nation

Imdb synopsis:An ensemble piece examining the health risks involved in the fast food industry and its environmental and social consequences as well.

I initially set this movie aside because I thought it was another documentary on America's eating habits. Or a documentary of some sort. No dice. This was a ensemble-cast movie based on a documentary. Which means it was a mismatched, un-coordinated expose following many characters that loosely are connected in the great meat-grinding machine of lies that is America. I was not impressed.

I have a hard time following political movies: not movies about POLITICS but movies that are trying to raise awareness/tell a message. This isn't because I don't agree with the message but because the message is being related poorly. It's hard to get a message across the screen without a story behind it, but I felt that this movie focused more on the former- concocting a viable string of events and characters to better relate to the viewer. I didn't think this worked very well.

You need stories that the audience cares for, that we'll root for; ones in which we can see ourselves, our family, our friends. You make characters with quirks and passions come to life so that your viewers understand and can apply it to their own zany selves. While the characters were quirky and the performances were realistic, the story just didn't mesh well enough for me to enjoy the story as a whole.

On a minor note (minor versus the awesome let-down this movie was), I was terribly disappointed that the ending arc to one of the main female characters was her preoccupation with why the cows she was trying to set free "didn't want to be free". Really? You're going to spend time and energy wondering why a herd of cattle didn't run out of a hole you made in the fence? It's a COW, hun.