Director Richard Linklater gives us three groups of characters the corporate clones,the cattlemen and the meat packers, with some angst-ridden adolescents thrown into the loosely-linked ensemble piece. But when those end credits roll, one felt as if they had consumed a ton of carbohydrates,and skipped the essential protein. Perhaps it was too ambitious of an endeavor with too much to tell, to expose, to pound home, to illuminate rapid images racing past us like the subliminal imagery used to train assassins in Alan J. Pakula's THE PARALLAX VIEW (1974), like those fevered images shooting through Rod Steiger's mind in Sidney Lumet's THE PAWNBROKER (1964). What Linklater missed out on was the poignant Hispanic drama illustrated in John Sayles' LONE STAR (1996), or perhaps the acerbic cutting wit found in Jason Reitman's THANK YOU FOR SMOKING(2005), or even the loopy satire found in Michael Spurlock's SUPER SIZE ME (2004).
By in large the acting was very good. Greg Kinnear created the corporate brain stormer, Don Anderson, who had the thankless job of traveling to Cody, Colorado to "investigate" the goings on at the primary meat packing plant where his company, MICKEY'S, procured their entire hamburger product; to look into the serious allegations that too much fecal matter was getting into their meat. The problem was no one clued Don into the fact that such forays are supposed to be titular, not actual. He was supposed to take the carefully modulated "tour" of the facility and come home with a clean report exonerating the management, and extolling the virtues of their pristine plant. Instead he actually started talking to folks, and the "truth" he began to hear, and the reality of the situation weighed heavily on him. But caught in the middle, he soon realized that an accurate report on the situation would cost him his job, and possibly his livelihood. So he backed off, and it was implied he "white-washed" the whole affair. Kinnear was good in the part, but he did not bring more to it than he needed. His minimalist lackluster style worked for the character, but we have seen it from him so often before with the two exceptions of the gay character he played in GOOD AS IT GETS (1997), and when he played Bob Crane in Paul Schrader's AUTO FOCUS (2002).
Kinnear shared scenes with Kris Kristofferson, as a straight-talking wealthy cattle rancher, and Bruce Willis as a blue-collared corporate middle man. These big name cameos allowed some of Linklater's political rhetoric to be espoused. Kristofferson underplayed his plain-folks cattleman wonderfully. Willis sat there munching a burger and swilling a beer, in a quietly menacing fearsome manner. As a 30-year veteran in the "meat business", Willis gleefully drove the corporate hard-line wooden stake right into the middle of Kinnear's chest. One immediately felt that Willis was capable of anything, from intrigue to violence, to discourage any further investigation on Kinnear's part. Kinnear backed off quickly, feeling vulnerable, paranoid, and respectful of his "corporate leash".
Plot thread II dealt with a group of immigrant Mexicans that had been smuggled over the border, then up through New Mexico to Colorado. Wilmer Valderrama (THAT 70'S SHOW), and the lovely Catalina Sandino Moreno, MARIA: FULL OF GRACE (2004), played the two primary characters in the Hispanic group. How these vulnerable, needy newcomers were manipulated first by the border coyotes, like Luis Guzman, and then the gringo "Bosses", like the sexist mean-spirited meat packing foreman, Bobby Cannavale (whose performance was so convincing I would have been willing to go to Cody and look for this bastard with a baseball bat), became the primary grist of the second half of the film.
But like a rich meringue topping, a third plot thread was woven into the mosaic the younger generation. This group was spearheaded by the perky Ashley Johnson as Amber, an intelligent teen who dreamed of escaping the confines of Cody, but in the meantime was stuck behind the counter at Mickey's. She lived with a single mother, Patricia Arquette, who had settled into the mid-life malaise of that place, who dated lots of men, drank too much, and didn't give her daughter much to aspire to. Only her wayward uncle, played by Ethan Hawke in another of those several brief cameos, reinforced her resolve, and helped her to see beyond the rut she inhabited; enabling her to shift from servitude to some form of activism. Avrial Lavigne, the singer, was a bit unimpressive as a blond cu-tie in the activist's cell. Paul Dano, from LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006), played the part of an arrogant, obnoxious, and petulant punk very effectively. An eon ago, when I too was on the management team of two separate fast food giants, employees like him were prevalent. I, to some extent, empathized with the Mickey's manager, Esai Morales.
The last part of the film was the most graphic, as we were walked behind the facade into the area of the slaughter chutes and the killing rooms, cattle being shot in the heads with stun guns, the steaming gut tables, and the cutting of cattle's throats to a pounding Southwest beat with thick bovine blood gushing into ankle-deep rivulets, and with blood gorged rats scurrying out from within and beneath the machines. FAST FOOD NATION was a work of conscience obviously not a "commercial venture". It will be seen by the smaller audiences in the art houses. It will probably not be seen much out in the mall mega-theaters. I would rate this film at 4 stars, primarily for its earnest attempt to tackle important issues, and along the way providing us with some above average entertainment.
Glenn Buttkus 2006
By in large the acting was very good. Greg Kinnear created the corporate brain stormer, Don Anderson, who had the thankless job of traveling to Cody, Colorado to "investigate" the goings on at the primary meat packing plant where his company, MICKEY'S, procured their entire hamburger product; to look into the serious allegations that too much fecal matter was getting into their meat. The problem was no one clued Don into the fact that such forays are supposed to be titular, not actual. He was supposed to take the carefully modulated "tour" of the facility and come home with a clean report exonerating the management, and extolling the virtues of their pristine plant. Instead he actually started talking to folks, and the "truth" he began to hear, and the reality of the situation weighed heavily on him. But caught in the middle, he soon realized that an accurate report on the situation would cost him his job, and possibly his livelihood. So he backed off, and it was implied he "white-washed" the whole affair. Kinnear was good in the part, but he did not bring more to it than he needed. His minimalist lackluster style worked for the character, but we have seen it from him so often before with the two exceptions of the gay character he played in GOOD AS IT GETS (1997), and when he played Bob Crane in Paul Schrader's AUTO FOCUS (2002).
Kinnear shared scenes with Kris Kristofferson, as a straight-talking wealthy cattle rancher, and Bruce Willis as a blue-collared corporate middle man. These big name cameos allowed some of Linklater's political rhetoric to be espoused. Kristofferson underplayed his plain-folks cattleman wonderfully. Willis sat there munching a burger and swilling a beer, in a quietly menacing fearsome manner. As a 30-year veteran in the "meat business", Willis gleefully drove the corporate hard-line wooden stake right into the middle of Kinnear's chest. One immediately felt that Willis was capable of anything, from intrigue to violence, to discourage any further investigation on Kinnear's part. Kinnear backed off quickly, feeling vulnerable, paranoid, and respectful of his "corporate leash".
Plot thread II dealt with a group of immigrant Mexicans that had been smuggled over the border, then up through New Mexico to Colorado. Wilmer Valderrama (THAT 70'S SHOW), and the lovely Catalina Sandino Moreno, MARIA: FULL OF GRACE (2004), played the two primary characters in the Hispanic group. How these vulnerable, needy newcomers were manipulated first by the border coyotes, like Luis Guzman, and then the gringo "Bosses", like the sexist mean-spirited meat packing foreman, Bobby Cannavale (whose performance was so convincing I would have been willing to go to Cody and look for this bastard with a baseball bat), became the primary grist of the second half of the film.
But like a rich meringue topping, a third plot thread was woven into the mosaic the younger generation. This group was spearheaded by the perky Ashley Johnson as Amber, an intelligent teen who dreamed of escaping the confines of Cody, but in the meantime was stuck behind the counter at Mickey's. She lived with a single mother, Patricia Arquette, who had settled into the mid-life malaise of that place, who dated lots of men, drank too much, and didn't give her daughter much to aspire to. Only her wayward uncle, played by Ethan Hawke in another of those several brief cameos, reinforced her resolve, and helped her to see beyond the rut she inhabited; enabling her to shift from servitude to some form of activism. Avrial Lavigne, the singer, was a bit unimpressive as a blond cu-tie in the activist's cell. Paul Dano, from LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006), played the part of an arrogant, obnoxious, and petulant punk very effectively. An eon ago, when I too was on the management team of two separate fast food giants, employees like him were prevalent. I, to some extent, empathized with the Mickey's manager, Esai Morales.
The last part of the film was the most graphic, as we were walked behind the facade into the area of the slaughter chutes and the killing rooms, cattle being shot in the heads with stun guns, the steaming gut tables, and the cutting of cattle's throats to a pounding Southwest beat with thick bovine blood gushing into ankle-deep rivulets, and with blood gorged rats scurrying out from within and beneath the machines. FAST FOOD NATION was a work of conscience obviously not a "commercial venture". It will be seen by the smaller audiences in the art houses. It will probably not be seen much out in the mall mega-theaters. I would rate this film at 4 stars, primarily for its earnest attempt to tackle important issues, and along the way providing us with some above average entertainment.
Glenn Buttkus 2006