FAST FOOD NATION (Richard Linklater, 2006)
92YTribeca
200 Hudson St.
Wednesday, June 9, $12, 7:30
Series runs monthly through September 15
212-601-1000
www.foxsearchlight.com/fastfoodnation
www.92y.org
Back in 1998, we read an amazing two-part article in Rolling Stone that has kept us out of fast-food burger joints for years, with no intention of ever going back. In 2001, National Magazine Award winner Eric Schlosser turned his investigative series into the bestselling book FAST FOOD NATION: THE DARK SIDE OF THE ALL-AMERICAN MEAL. Schlosser then teamed up with writer-director Richard Linklater — whose diverse credits include SLACKER, DAZED AND CONFUSED, BEFORE SUNSET, SCHOOL OF ROCK, and A SCANNER DARKLY — for a fictionalized version of Schlosser’s reporting. Weaving together a series of interrelated stories, Linklater, who cowrote the screenplay with Schlosser, tackles such controversial themes as corporate greed, illegal border crossings, occupational safety, animal abuse, and marketing to children in a surprisingly lifeless way, despite the toxic subject matter. Greg Kinnear stars as Don Anderson, a marketing chief at Mickey’s who is sent to the company’s meatpacking plant in Cody, Colorado, to find out why feces has been found in the fast-food chain’s Big One burger. Wilmer Valderrama plays Raul, a Mexican with a dream of making a new life in America; he has crossed the border illegally with his wife, Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno), Sylvia’s sister, Coco (Ana Claudia Talancon), and others. Raul gets a disgusting job at the plant, while Coco falls prey to the sexual advances of racist plant boss Mike (Bobby Cannavale). Meanwhile, Amber (Ashley Johnson) is a dedicated Mickey’s employee, serving burgers to earn money for college — until she meets Paco (Lou Taylor Pucci) and a group of environmentalist college students planning an act of protest against the chain. The all-star cast — which also includes Luis Guzman, Kris Kristofferson, Ethan Hawke, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Patricia Arquette, Esai Morales, Avril Lavigne, and Bruce Willis — turns in fine work, but the movie never quite becomes as compelling as such cinematic predecessors as TRAFFIC and SILKWOOD. Although the filmmakers claim otherwise, the film is too black and white, with obvious good guys and bad guys — but there are likely to be a lot more vegetarians in America after the relentlessly bloody ending.
But you don’t have to take our word for it. On June 9, Linklater and Schlosser will be at 92YTribeca for a special screening, followed by a Q&A. The film kicks off the Y’s summer series Eat This Film!, which continues July 14 with Péter Kerekes’s COOKING HISTORY (2009), August 11 with Ermanno Olmi’s TREE OF WOODEN CLOGS (1978), and September 15 with Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s SWEETGRASS (2009), all of which will include pre- and/or postscreening discussions with a variety of experts. Happy eating!