The fiction that Schlosser and the director Richard Linklater have extracted from the book is a mess, with narrative lines that go astray or simply wind up in the air.
Fast Food Nation (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:32
Fresh:13
Rotten:19
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: Despite some fine performances and memorable scenes, Fast Food Nation is more effective as Eric Schlosser's eye-opening non-fiction book than as Richard Linklater's fictionalized, mostly punchless movie.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for disturbing images, strong sexuality, language and drug content.
Runtime: 2 hrs 36 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Nov 17, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $905,718
Synopsis: When it was published in 2001, Fast Food Nation quickly became a New York Times bestseller, with its no-holds-barred, non-fiction exploration of "the dark side of the All-American meal." The big... When it was published in 2001, Fast Food Nation quickly became a New York Times bestseller, with its no-holds-barred, non-fiction exploration of "the dark side of the All-American meal." The big screen version FAST FOOD NATION is a dramatic feature penned by Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser and Oscar® nominee Richard Linklater, who also serves as director. Explains Linklater: "The movie is not a documentary, but a character study of the lives behind the facts and figures. I'm more interested in fiction than non-fiction. You get to the point through human storytelling." Writer/Director Richard Linklater has helmed such diverse works as DAZED AND CONFUSED, THE SCHOOL OF ROCK, BAD NEWS BEARS and WAKING LIFE and was nominated for an Oscar in 2005 for penning the script for BEFORE SUNSET. In addition to his career as a writer, Schlosser is an award-winning correspondent for "The Atlantic Monthly." FAST FOOD NATION is produced by Oscar winner Jeremy Thomas (THE LAST EMPEROR, SEXY BEAST, MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE) and musical entrepreneur Malcolm McLaren. The film's co-producer is Ann Carli (BROTHER, FESTIVAL EXPRESS) and executive producer is Jeff Skoll (SYRIANA, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.). FAST FOOD NATION stars a diverse roster of award-winning actors that span ages and ethnicities, including Wilmer Valderrama ("That 70's Show"), Catalina Sandino Moreno (a 2005 Oscar nominee for MARIA FULL OF GRACE), Ana Claudia Talancon (EL CRIMEN DEL PADRE AMARO), Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear (AS GOOD AS IT GETS, MATADOR), Bobby Cannavale (a 2005 Emmy winner for "Will & Grace"), Oscar nominee Kris Kristofferson (SONGWRITER, DREAMER), Ashley Johnson (WHAT WOMEN WANT), multiple Grammy-nominated recording artist Avril Lavigne, Oscar-nominated actor and writer Ethan Hawke (BEFORE SUNSET, TRAINING DAY, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13), Patricia Arquette (2005 Emmy winner for her role on the NBC series "Medium"), Lou Taylor Pucci (THUMBSUCKER), SAG Award winner Luis Guzman (TRAFFIC, DREAMER), and Esai Morales ("NYPD Blue"). --© Fox Searchlight Pictures [More]
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Bruce Willis, Patricia Arquette, Paul Dano
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Bruce Willis, Patricia Arquette, Paul Dano, Ethan Hawke, Wilmer Valderrama, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne
Director: Richard Linklater
Director: Richard Linklater
Producer: Jeremy Thomas, Malcolm McLaren
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
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Reviews for Fast Food Nation
To a degree, Fast Food Nation gets the job done, not least because of a harrowing section, late in the film, made up of actual slaughterhouse footage.
They say you don't want to see what goes on behind the scenes in the making of sausage or politics. Fast Food Nation blends the two, and the result may not be a very good movie, but it certainly is effectively disgusting.
Fast Food Nation is alternately funny and disturbing, and surprisingly informative, even as it sacrifices some of its strength by lecturing to an audience that might be snacking on fake cheese-covered corn chips and calorie-laden cola.
Too many story threads are consistently ignored or dropped altogether.
A frustratingly toothless film whose heart is in the right place even if its head isn't.
Linklater and Schlosser have plenty to say. They just fail to say it cohesively.
No question, these are alarming issues, but I would direct you to Schlosser's book.
Where's the beef? There is no tasty nutritious plot to chew on, merely lots of cheap info McNuggets meant to be gulped down quickly without thinking too much.
For all the filmmaker's good intentions, Fast Food Nation isn't a particularly good movie.
Unlike the book it's based on, Fast Food Nation won't make you think twice about what you eat. But it may make you think second thoughts about whether it might have made a better documentary.
Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation is major. It's an angry movie that could shame a Big Mac lover into having a salad.
Richard Linklater is channeling Robert Altman -- or at least it seems he's trying to channel Altman -- with his meandering, intertwined plot lines.
Linklater defines his characters by their relationships, hopes, choices and weaknesses -- not, as so many directors do, by their particular socioeconomic circumstances.
The film adaptation of Eric Schlossers best-selling book is far too rich and complicated to be understood as a simple, high-minded polemic.
[A] sloppy, overarching fiction that tries to do too many things at once. It's like a three-ring circus in which none of the acts is terribly interesting.
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