Super Size Me (PG)
Opens July 8
Running Time: 97 min

Produced, Directed and Starring: Morgan Spurlock

A Not So Happy Meal

By Michelle Tan • UrbanWire
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As a child innocent to the ways of the world, my happiness was easily contained in a box – a McDonald’s Happy Meal one, that is. It brought me great joy to open it to see my burger, fries and a precious toy lying at the bottom. I was a classic McDonald’s kid back then. Hey, I even had a part in a McDonald’s commercial when I was in Primary 1, for which I was paid a decent $60 in the early 90s!

But as I grew older, I became more aware about what the ‘Golden Arches’ really stood for: a corporation hungry for world domination. Suddenly, those glorious fries didn’t seem so appealing, and watching this film only drove the last nail into the coffin.

In an investigative approach slightly resembling that of Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine, Super Size Me is a satirical and irreverent look at America’s constant craving for fast food, and the adverse effects the industry has on the society. In his debut feature-length film, independent filmmaker Morgan Spurlock interviews experts and specialists about this increasing health issue which plagues Americans and increasingly people everywhere from all walks of life.

Spurlock, who won the Sundance Film Festival’s Best Director award earlier this year, ventured out to various parts of the country, secretly filming McDonald’s outlets with no nutrition information displayed, and less-than-ideal high school lunches.

This documentary also details Spurlock’s now-infamous McDonald’s binge experiment, partially inspired by 2 obese New York teens who sued the leading fast food corporation in August 2002 for ‘making them fat’.

Over 30 days, Spurlock eats everything offered on the McDonald’s menu at least once – from burgers to breakfast meals to desserts – as well as having to oblige the occasional ‘Super Size’ request, whenever it came. Watching Spurlock shovel burger after burger into his mouth really made my stomach churn by day 3.

While the chronic liver damage didn’t show, the weight gain and the devastation to his health were obvious in the wake of all the excess grease, sugar and fats. The fact that he avoided any form of exercise made his experiment the perfect recipe for bodily disaster.

A darling at Sundance, Super Size Me opened around the world to mixed reviews. While getting movie critics and fans raving, it naturally provoked a heated response from the corporation in question that went on the offensive. After Guy Russo, McDonald’s Australia’s Managing Director/CEO, watched the film, he had information released on the McDonald’s website and a series of television commercials to debunk what they termed as myths.

Despite all that the corporation’s doing now, the damage is done. Even though the experiment was unrealistic (Who actually eats McDonald’s every day of their life?), Spurlock has certainly proven that excessive fast food consumption can be detrimental to one’s health.

So clear is his conviction that Spurlock declared in one scene that if ever he drove past McDonald’s with his kid, and he/she insisted on visiting the restaurant, “I’ll punch my kid in the face.”

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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(Pictures taken from the official Super Size Me website)