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Super Size Me
2004
In this hilarious yet informative documentary, debut director Morgan Spurlock makes himself the victim of a cruel experiment: he puts himself on a 30-day diet of nothing but McDonald's food. Eating three meals a day exclusively from McDonald's, Spurlock's health quickly deteriorates. The film documents the process from .. Read more
| Starring | Morgan Spurlock |
|---|---|
| Director | Morgan Spurlock |
| Genres | Documentary |
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Critics' reviews (5)
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Describing himself as the “producer/director/guinea pig” of this, his first feature documentary, healthy 30-something Morgan Spurlock wondered what would happen if he ate nothing but McDonald's food for a month. With this headline-grabbing experiment at its core, Super Size Me looks more broadly at the hold fast food has over Americans in an age of ever-increasing obesity. An initially chipper host without a political axe to grind (he admits he enjoys the odd Big Mac, despite the protestations of his vegan chef girlfriend), Spurlock soon finds his strict new diet hard to stomach. After one “super-sized” meal from a drive-thru, he vomits profusely on the tarmac. After a few weeks, Spurlock's doctor tells him his “liver is like pâté” and the gross-out comedy takes a darker turn. Like Michael Moore, Spurlock presents his statistical material light-heartedly to make a serious point, but the success of his film depends on the likeability of his ubiquitous presence. Which is very likeable indeed.
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Effective, entertaining and cautionary documentary in which, on a diet of fast food, Spurlock goes from the peak of health to an overweight person with high cholesterol and liver problems.
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Premiered at Sundance in January 2004 (it won the best director prize), and released in the UK in a version updated... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful members' reviews (3)
View all -
63 out of 67 people found this review helpful
Fast Food Frenzy!!
I liked this film/documentary. It is thoroughly obvious what the end result will be to anyone who has indulged in fast food. I would imagine that like most vices in this world, it is great at the time, a sense of fulfilment and wellbeing follows and then the inevitable 'come down' from whatever high you were own. Also, all vices are inherently bad for you - that sort of goes with the definition of the word??!!
Unfortunately, due to the fact that this is an American film, that message seems to need explaining throughout. The damage that the guy does to himself is simply amazing as are some of the facts that come out of the experts. The sheer amounts of Fat, sugar and calories that are consumed in your average Macky D are frightening. And that is what you get from this film, facts that deep down you know, but don?t really want to hear. This film could have been about smoking, drugs, extreme sports etc, but he chooses fast food. And boy, do the yanks like their fast food. You hear about 1 guy that has only eaten big macs for the last three years.
It is good, but this really could have been condensed into an hour long documentary. It is filled out far too much to give it movie length status, but I would recommend that you rent this. The changes that happen to this guy, both physically and mentally are amazing!! -
17 out of 21 people found this review helpful
MacDonalds has had its chips !
A fascinating insight into just what MacDonalds thinks of you and what its food does to you.
Corporate greed and consumer ignorance gone mad; this film is an ideal companion-piece to Eric Schlosser's excellent book, "Fast Food Nation" (indeed, Mr Schlosser is interviewed in the extras).
If you really want to scare yourself silly, be sure to watch the extra titled "The Smoking Fries". You'll never be able to look at a MacD's fry the same way again (cue scary music). Make sure you're not eating at the time either !! -
17 out of 23 people found this review helpful
Good
This film doesn't contain anything that will surprise you; ie eating McD's a lot makes you fat and having a vegan for a girlfriend is annoying. Morgan however is really good on the camera and seems a really nice bloke. He also really likes eating McDonalds. Any commentary on McD's is done by various pundits and experts who he travels round the country to see. Very enjoyable
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Most recent members' reviews (2)
View all -
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Super size health problems!!
This was a facinating insight into the fast food business world and how it only cares about making money and NOT about its customers. Ok-so the exercise undertaken by Morgan Spurlock-eating nothing but McDonalds for 30 days is a little pointless in the fact that no one would eat purely McDonalds for Every meal every day and secondly the consequences of that would be obvious from a health perspective.However the point of the film is to make you aware what a massive industry it is and that people are just 'blind' to the dangers of being overweight and obese in todays society.It manages to do this brilliantly and certainly made me think about what i eat, whats in it and whats it doing to me?
It also embarassed McDonalds into scrapping their super size menu!!
A great film! -
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Hard Hitting Documentary
Well what can i say that everyone else hasn't already said? Top film that is hard hitting and funny in places.
Its a well known fact that McDonalds, amonst other fast food giants' 'food' is a danger to your health. Everybody knows it, but people choose to ignore it.Thats the problem in America, ignorance.It ain't called junk food for nothin' you know!!
Americans are dumb,they fool themselves into thinking that they are far too busy to eat proper food or to cook a meal for their family.The truth is,they are probably the laziest people on this planet,and it shows in the obesity levels in the USA. Morgan Spurlock risked more than he intended to highlight this issue, and hopefully America, and the rest of the world will take notice.Oh and somebody shoot that tree hugging, vegan rake of a girlfriend of his!!
All in all, a good docu-film highlighting a serious issue.It had an effect on me,and I will think twice about eating McDonalds again.
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63 out of 67 people found this review helpful
Fast Food Frenzy!!
I liked this film/documentary. It is thoroughly obvious what the end result will be to anyone who has indulged in fast food. I would imagine that like most vices in this world, it is great at the time, a sense of fulfilment and wellbeing follows and then the inevitable 'come down' from whatever high you were own. Also, all vices are inherently bad for you - that sort of goes with the definition of the word??!!
Unfortunately, due to the fact that this is an American film, that message seems to need explaining throughout. The damage that the guy does to himself is simply amazing as are some of the facts that come out of the experts. The sheer amounts of Fat, sugar and calories that are consumed in your average Macky D are frightening. And that is what you get from this film, facts that deep down you know, but don?t really want to hear. This film could have been about smoking, drugs, extreme sports etc, but he chooses fast food. And boy, do the yanks like their fast food. You hear about 1 guy that has only eaten big macs for the last three years.
It is good, but this really could have been condensed into an hour long documentary. It is filled out far too much to give it movie length status, but I would recommend that you rent this. The changes that happen to this guy, both physically and mentally are amazing!! -
17 out of 21 people found this review helpful
MacDonalds has had its chips !
A fascinating insight into just what MacDonalds thinks of you and what its food does to you.
Corporate greed and consumer ignorance gone mad; this film is an ideal companion-piece to Eric Schlosser's excellent book, "Fast Food Nation" (indeed, Mr Schlosser is interviewed in the extras).
If you really want to scare yourself silly, be sure to watch the extra titled "The Smoking Fries". You'll never be able to look at a MacD's fry the same way again (cue scary music). Make sure you're not eating at the time either !! -
17 out of 23 people found this review helpful
Good
This film doesn't contain anything that will surprise you; ie eating McD's a lot makes you fat and having a vegan for a girlfriend is annoying. Morgan however is really good on the camera and seems a really nice bloke. He also really likes eating McDonalds. Any commentary on McD's is done by various pundits and experts who he travels round the country to see. Very enjoyable
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15 out of 18 people found this review helpful
Never eat fast food again
Sat open jawed for the hour and a half this movie lasts...a wonderful journalistic experiment that has truly put me off McD's for life. Morgan's narrative is cutting, funny and superbly written.
If you are carrying some extra weight from eating too much fast food (like me) this documentary is the only incentive you'll need to put yourself straight. -
17 out of 28 people found this review helpful
Can bearly contain my indifference
A program about a man who eats fast food for a month and then gets sick. Go figure.
I'm not a fan of McDonalds, but I think it would have been nice to have some sort of balanced argument. You would have to be very naive to take this seriously as a documentary.
The complete lack of integrity is captured in the scene where the public are asked if they know what a calorie is. There is much confusion and nobody seems to know. Then the camera turns to a nutritionist for the correct answer. Her definition of a calorie is 1000 times too large. I cannot believe that this huge mistake wasn't picked up during editing. Silly bint. -
9 out of 10 people found this review helpful
An amusing and very watchable documentary/film.
America's largest corporation gets disenchanted in the most embarrassing way.
The documentary is shocking, funny and I'm sure in many cases; life altering.
If you still eat fast 'corporation' food every week (and feed it your kids) after this movie, then you quite clearly don't care about being an NHS burden, or being in pain.
You have to watch the DVD extras. They are just as good as the documentary itself. Especially the description as to how they get the meat for McDonalds burgers. 100,000 cattle wading in their own excrement in a 'feeding lot' get ground down and mechanically recovered to feed you. 1000 different cattle parts can be found in 1 burger. It gets worse...
This is not heavy on the science of nutrition, and Morgan Spurloc does not measure the effects in any more of a scientific way than a series of blood tests and health checks. But then, he doesn't need to. It's obvious!
A movie that tells you the facts about one of the worlds greediest companies and makes you laugh at the same time. It is one-sided, and rightfully so. One hell of a warning as nutritionalists in the UK warn we are only a step behind the US when it comes to eating habits and food trends. That's what this movie, coupled with the extras, is all about.
Bon apetite. -
8 out of 9 people found this review helpful
Fattys Beware
Good documentary on the harmful effects of eating fast food for 1 month, but Morgan Spurlock only really scratches the surface with this film.
If you want more insight into the fast food industry read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, obviously a book can deliver much more than a 90 minute film so it would be unfair to compare the two. But the book is better ha ha ha.
This isn't a Michael Moore film. Morgan doesn't go after the corporate bosses or try to convert people to vegetarianism and/or buddhism.
He eats McDonald's for 1 month and makes himself ill. -
6 out of 7 people found this review helpful
Supersize Me
What healthy boy hasn't dreamt of living on nothing but burgers? Well don't. Just one month of Maccy Ds is enough to screw Yank director Morgan Spurlock's liver. Shock-doc of the year.
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Super size health problems!!
This was a facinating insight into the fast food business world and how it only cares about making money and NOT about its customers. Ok-so the exercise undertaken by Morgan Spurlock-eating nothing but McDonalds for 30 days is a little pointless in the fact that no one would eat purely McDonalds for Every meal every day and secondly the consequences of that would be obvious from a health perspective.However the point of the film is to make you aware what a massive industry it is and that people are just 'blind' to the dangers of being overweight and obese in todays society.It manages to do this brilliantly and certainly made me think about what i eat, whats in it and whats it doing to me?
It also embarassed McDonalds into scrapping their super size menu!!
A great film! -
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Watch This DVD!!!!
Coming from the same corner as Eric Schlosser's eye opening book 'Fast Food Nation', Morgan Spurlock's documentary is less in your face and more humourous in its presentation but equally as shocking and damning in its expose of the fast food industry.
Although humourous - and in some places cracklingly funny - the message behind the film does hit home, right from the opening scene. As a nation we are getting fatter and more out of shape. Fast food sure looks to be a major factor in this trend. Super Size Me shows just why. And just what kind of damage - and how much - fast food does to your body.
The fast food companies know this and market their products cynically. Last time I went to America you could get a hamburger for 39 cents!
Many years ago I ate McDonalds products and then threw up copiously a short time later, so it is kind of reassuring that this happens to other people too.
Check the extras for an interview with Eric Schlosser, how Morgan Spurlock got the idea for Super Size Me and how McDonalds products decompose. You won't believe the decomposition feature!
The message in Super Size Me is one I completely agree with. It is serious but well presented in a humourous way.
Companies like McDonalds may not have started out as inherently cynical and driven towards profit, but that appears to be how they are now. And we are paying for that with our wallets and with our health.
You will never eat another chicken McNugget, burger or french fry ever again.
Critics' reviews (5)
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Describing himself as the “producer/director/guinea pig” of this, his first feature documentary, healthy 30-something Morgan Spurlock wondered what would happen if he ate nothing but McDonald's food for a month. With this headline-grabbing experiment at its core, Super Size Me looks more broadly at the hold fast food has over Americans in an age of ever-increasing obesity. An initially chipper host without a political axe to grind (he admits he enjoys the odd Big Mac, despite the protestations of his vegan chef girlfriend), Spurlock soon finds his strict new diet hard to stomach. After one “super-sized” meal from a drive-thru, he vomits profusely on the tarmac. After a few weeks, Spurlock's doctor tells him his “liver is like pâté” and the gross-out comedy takes a darker turn. Like Michael Moore, Spurlock presents his statistical material light-heartedly to make a serious point, but the success of his film depends on the likeability of his ubiquitous presence. Which is very likeable indeed.
-
Effective, entertaining and cautionary documentary in which, on a diet of fast food, Spurlock goes from the peak of health to an overweight person with high cholesterol and liver problems.
-
Premiered at Sundance in January 2004 (it won the best director prize), and released in the UK in a version updated... read more on Time Out
-
Hugely Enjoyable.
-
Very Funny.
Buy from the LOVEFiLM shop
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- Super Size Me
- DVD: £11.93
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In this hilarious yet informative documentary, debut director Morgan Spurlock makes himself the victim of a cruel experiment: he puts himself on a 30-day diet of nothing but McDonald's food. Eating ... -
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