Linklater and Schlosser’s script is uneven and, ultimately, too erratic in focus to make a lasting impact.
Fast Food Nation (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:137
Fresh:70
Rotten:67
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
...a deeply unappetizing experience, sort of like downing three Big Macs at one sitting. At least it's more nutritious.
To say that Fast Food Nation the movie is less horrifying than the book is accurate, but not fair to the movie, which is plenty horrifying enough.... Linklater puts a human face on a situation that is so huge that it just about paralyzes you.
As bad an idea as it is to eat before seeing it, you probably won't be very hungry (at least not for fast food) afterwards either.
One leaves the theater certain what Linklater's theme was but uncertain why it was presented so ineffectively.
Fast Food Nation is exotic for being a movie about work. Its characters struggle with some of the world's dirtiest jobs -- morally as well as physically.
It's less an expose of junk-food culture than a human drama, sprinkled with sly, provoking wit, about how that culture defines how we live.
Fast Food Nation gives you much to chew on and much to expel, but at least you’ll be sick for a healthy cause.
Timely and unappetizing, it illustrates the folly of unsavory consumption but laid-back Richard Linklater lacks the necessary caustic tone to make a lasting impact.
Where this year’s mushy tobacco satire “Thank You For Smoking” failed due to its filmmakers’ refusal to take enough of a stand, “Fast Food Nation” has no such pretense.
Turned into fiction from the non-fiction bestseller by Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation sets up a scenario but fails to satisfactorily complete it
Engaging, thought-provoking and sharply written, this is an impressively directed drama with superb performances from its talented ensemble cast.
More entertaining than a documentary can be, this fictionalized, muckraking pic could dent the fast food industry if enough people see it.
While the original book assumed an adult level of intelligence, the film pitches itself squarely at the sort of American teenager who would be shocked to learn that a fast food chain was anything but a pillar of the local community.
I’ve never eaten fast food in my life. After seeing this movie, you will join my egg-whites-only lifestyle. For you, it will take the on-screen gutting of a cow to do it.
The slow and didactic film instructs us obsessively that fast food restaurants are evil, meat packers are more evil still and machines are actually the root of all evil.
A dramatic movie that's engaging and provocative in a way a documentary couldn't be.
Put over with a good deal of humor, not to mention some gut-wrenchingly graphic scenes in the abattoir and heartbreak tales of the Mexican immigrant work force, Fast Food Nation does not let up its momentum for a second.
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