Fast Food Nation

Well, that was a surprise! I didn't expect to like Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation too much, but I did! I had some free time this afternoon and decided to see a movie, but this was the only one that was on when I showed up at the cinema that I even remotely wanted to see. I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, it's definitely very flawed - too long, too many characters, unfocused at times, but I dunno. It won me over. The "too long" and "too many characters" go hand in hand. And that's even when Greg Kinnear's character (positioned as the only "lead" at the start) completely vanishes for about half the film. Some of the little scenes that you always see on DVD could have easily been taken out and it would've been a good 10 minutes shorter. It jumps around all over the place and doesn't really go anywhere, either.

I liked the cast though, most of them were good. My favourites were Bruce Willis, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke and Avril Lavigne (yes, Avril) in small roles. Of the main characters I really liked Ashley Johnson (below). I've seen her in a couple of things before and she always comes off looking lovely. And, of course, I essentially had a fit whenever Bobby Cannavale was on screen. He takes his shirt off people. He takes his shirt off! :P The rest of the cast, like Catalina Sandino Moreno, Wilmer Vanderrama, Paul Dano, Ana Claudia Talancon, Kris Kristofferson and co were also good.


I was a bit worried about the already infamous slaughterhouse scene at the end, but when it came around I wasn't as disgusted as I thought I would be. I mean, it's gross stuff (not for weak stomachs), but considering I eat meat I think it didn't effect me as much. I already knew this stuff happens, it's just visualised quite graphically. The worst bit was seeing the intestines roll down the shoot. That was disgusting. The more destressing moments were the scenes showing all the cows in their pens.

It reminded me of Thank You For Smoking actually. Two celebrity-filled casts about big social issues (cigarettes and fast food respectively), but this one went at the issue a bit harder. I never ate McDonalds food anyway, but this film actually tries to get people to stop eating them and that's respectable. It doesn't go hard enough, I thought, but at the same time I appreciated that it didn't come off as a big long lecture, even though it really is. B