A Meta-Review of "Supersize Me"

By Meta-Review, I mean one which pretty much looks through other reviews for what glimmers of truth they may have. This is all because I am too lazy to write a full review of my own. I liked it, but wasn't as sickened as some of the other people I know who have seen it.

"This attention-grabbing stunt is getting the film lots of free press, but it proves nothing that any normal doctor doesn?t already know about the links between bad food and bad health. Forget that this stunt is completely irresponsible; Spurlock is a healthy guy, and he succeeds only in trivializing people with real eating disorders. "

Yes, junk food is bad for you. This is nothing new. If I went on a all-cheese diet for a whole month, I bet my symptoms would be pretty bad too. (Not to mention that this was hardly a rigorous study, what with the sample-size of one.) This particular link also shows one of the strange bits that I found the movie. There was a scene in which an overweight teen is interviewed and talks about how there is so much pressure to be skinny. It seems to downplay the problem of body-image, and seems to suggest that perhaps the shame tactic is permissable, thereby trivializing the problems that overweight kids might have.

"Like several other areas of genuine concern, a maddeningly underdeveloped sequence depicting the deplorable state of our nation's school lunch programs is quickly wiped off the screen to make room for more long segments in which Spurlock prances around in his red-white-and-blue bikini briefs while tugging on his new love handles and whining about his "McStomach-ache."

The movie is funny and engaging. But the real important issues that it tackles are given far less time and concern as the apparent health degeneration of Spurlock, not to mention the scene in which he finds a hair in his sundae (OMG A HAIR!!!! APPALLING! That never happens at restaurants.)

I enjoyed the movie, but found certain aspects of it obvious, and others a little troubling. It's obviously severely biassed, and more than a little narcisistic, but brings up some imprtant issues. It hasn't encouraged me to stop eating fast-food (actually I haven't eaten McD's for some time now) but has persuaded me to get more excercise. (The fact that he wasn't excersizing was given far too little examination.)

In the end he offers very little in the way of solutions, sugggesting that McD's and other restaurants bear a lot of the brunt of responsibility which is really only part of the problem. The conclusion seemed too much diatribe, too little of anything constructive. People should see the movie, and it is a good step in making the world a healthier place, but watch it with a grain of salt.