Review of Super Size Me (2004) by Heatherm — 28 Mar 2015

Morgan Spurlock's self-experiment with and meditation on fast food culture is an engaging look at an important social problem. He does a great job of bringing both humour and seriousness to the issue in turns, to keep the viewer both entertained and informed. It's also nice that his documentary appears to have had a very real impact--as the end of the final version notes, after the film's Sundance premier McDonald's got rid of the Super Size option and introduced more healthy options. In the years since then, they've also made nutritional information much easier to access, even printing it on the food's packaging for a time (although this is still a long way from the most beneficial approach of putting the information on menus so that diners are forced to consider it as they order).

However, as much as I love this documentary (I've probably seen it about five times), there are times where Spurlock takes the dramatic effects further than are strictly necessary. While the health problems he incurred through this experiment were very real and serious, the drama of having different doctors repeatedly tell him to stop, and the conversations with his mother and girlfriend, strained my patience a little. Also, he does occasionally misrepresent McDonald's claims--for instance, McDonald's claimed that most nutritionists said that fast food *could* be part of a healthy diet, and Spurlock then asked nutritionists whether it *should* be a part of a healthy diet, and masked the difference by claiming that his findings proved McDonald's was lying. This felt like more spin than substance, and the same information could have been used more effectively if he hadn't attempted to use it dishonestly.

Still, despite these minor issues, the documentary provides important perspective on a major health problem, and Spurlock's work has had a real, positive impact on fast food culture. While the statistics are out of date, it's still an important thing to watch. I still eat McDonald's because it's delicious, but at least I'm better informed about the potential damage I'm doing to my body. Maybe I'm even a little better at moderating my intake because of it.