Review of Bigger Stronger Faster* (2008) by Campbell K — 05 Jul 2009

Watched this yesterday with Katie. It's a little slow at times as it's fairly long for a documentary. But it also provides a fairly informative and fascinating look into the American hypocrisy towards performance enhancement.

Interesting questions gets raised (For instance, is Adderol for ADD-sufferers the same as steroids for athletes? What about Tiger Woods getting Lasik surgery for his eyes?) and intriguing facts get revealed (the vast majority of anabolic steroids users "juice" purely for recreational/aesthetic purposes, rather than to help out in competitive athletics; and more people go the emergency room for Flinstones Vitamin overdoses than for steroid abuse).

However, the film struggles from not really taking a clear stand on the issue. Sure, I'll admit that there a lot of moving parts in the steroids debate, but that doesn't mean the filmmaker can't make up his mind about how he feels on the issue.

All in all though, I enjoyed it.