Review of Super Size Me (2004) by Nathan S — 09 Mar 2011

"Super Size Me" is a documentary about the American fast food industry, and how it effects the American way of life. In the documentary the viewer is shown a lot of factual statistics and interviews surrounding the world of fast food. There is especially a big focus on the world famous fast food chain McDonalds. Now this is of course normal for a documentary, but one thing does set "Super Size Me" apart from other related documentaries. Along with all the facts you also get an experiment performed in front of you, by the interviewer himself, Morgan Spurlock, as he goes on a McDonalds eating binge for 30 days, to prove a point about fast food and the body . Everything he consumes must without exception come from McDonalds, every item on the menu must be tried out, only 5000 steps may be taken by him each day, and if he is asked about super sizing his meal, he has to answer yes. Morgan is under supervision by three doctors and a health specialist in order to track his declining physical health while the experiment is being conducted. What is going to happen to Spurlock? Well you will just have to go and see.

I believe this to be a brilliant documentary. It states cold hard facts about the fast food industry, while it at the same time has some entertainment value. As we know, it can be hard to swallow one dry fact after the other without getting slightly bored. This is why, it is a good idea to have some entertainment to go along with the facts. Now "Super Size Me" as stated before does this right by having a funny host(Morgan Spurlock), and dragging you into his life by doing the experiment. There is of course a risk that the entertainment can cross the line and overshadow the message of the production. Luckily "Super Size Me" never crosses this line. The only big problem with the documentary is that it can be biased in its facts. Not that it is lying, but rather the facts that the viewer is presented with does not make you see the other side's point of view too much. So the selection of facts is either biased, or there simply are not many good arguments from the other side.

I strongly urge you to go watch Super Size Me. It is well put together and not too biased while also being quite entertaining. The production might even change your view on fast food all together.