Fast Food Nation | 
| Director: Richard Linklater
Actors: Greg Kinnear, Luis Guzman, Patricia Arquette, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Willis
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $1.99
You Save: $12.99 (87%)
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Rating:  112 reviews
Sales Rank: 3929
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 2241868
UPC: 024543418689
EAN: 0024543418689
ASIN: B000MEYKAU
Theatrical Release Date: November 17, 2006
Release Date: March 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
If you're still eating that fast-food burger after watching Super Size Me, you might not feel too hungry after watching Fast Food Nation, a fictionalized feature based on Eric Schlosser's bestselling nonfiction expose. Director Richard Linklater, who cowrote the screenplay with Schlosser, guides a topnotch ensemble cast through a peek behind the veil of how that Big Mac is born. Much of the film focuses on the illegal immigrants who work in the loosely regulated meat-packing industry, and actors including the luminous Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), who plays a desperate but outraged laborer. Greg Kinnear also delivers a spot-on performance as a fast-food chain marketing manager, trying frantically to discover the source of stomach-turning contamination in the company's meat. Stories are woven in unexpected ways, and cameos by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, and especially Bruce Willis keep the narrative fresh. The film has a point of view, but thanks to Linklater's deft touch, is never didactic. As Willis's character slyly says, "Most people don't like to be told what's best for them." Agreed, yet Fast Food Nation likely will help the viewer be more conscious of what's on the end of that fork. --A.T. Hurley Extras from Fast Food Nation 
Fast Food Nation Arcade-Style Game |
Beyond Fast Food Nation 
Super Size Me | 
Fast Food Nation (Paperback) | 
Fast Food Nation: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture |
Stills from Fast Food Nation
Product Description
WHEN A MARKETING EXECUTIVE FOR THE MICKEY'S BURGER CHAIN IS TOLD THERE'S A NASTY SECRET INGREDIENT IN HIS LATEST CULINARY CREATION'THE BIG ONE' HE HEADS FOR THE RANCHES & SLAUGHTERHOUSES OF COLORADO TO INVESTIGATE ... BUT DISCOVERS THE TRUTH A BIT DIFFICULT TO SWALLOW.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 107 more reviews...
Doesn't convey the facts. May 26, 2009
L. Hemperly
This film was okay. While portraying the hideousness of the disturbing meat industry, it revolved more around the hardships of the employees and people involved. It failed miserably to convey the facts that the book details. They're quite bellowing too, so not to include them is unforgivable. It didn't seem like anyone even read the book. While the film disappointed me immensely, at least it may provoke uninformed people to become informed. Though I'd recommend just not to be lazy and read the book first. You'll be floored.
Another well crafted Linklater film; marred by the PETA friendly propaganda ending May 20, 2009
Create Your Pen Name
Richard Linklater crafted one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time, that being A Scanner Darkly; apart from that I can admire the man's work and his intentions but I'd never call anything else he did 10 star material, Waking Life would be a 9, and Fast Food Nation is another one of those films that I thoroughly, for the most part, enjoyed but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece.
It's like Soderbergh's Traffic, but about the fast food world; who works for the corporations, who supplies who with what and who tries to fight the machine that controls almost every single feasible aspect of the whole thing. All the performances are truly fantastic, Linklater knows how to handle actors and actresses, there's no doubt about that, and it flows beautifully with never a dull moment, but then that moment comes that I knew was a possibility but was hoping against.
Yes, Richard, we know that the cows are treated like lifeless garbage simply for the profit of giant corporations, but showing me a cow being slaughtered will not get me on your side; I know the horrors that exist in that world so, predictably, showing me the death of a cow isn't going to impress or enlighten me...or have any effect, really.
 Another homerun for Richard Linklater April 20, 2009
R. Robinson (N.C. by way of TX)
A documentary turned Hollywood big production. Even if you don't like the story you have to give Richard Linklater his props, the man has not made a bad movie to date (going way back to "Slackers" and while working with complicated scripts, such as this one which he was largely responsible for). Yes the movie is slanted to the left. But perhaps for the reason that it opens up the question and dialogue of who is exactly happier/better-off in this relationship? Yes people may be happy in the short run in our ever reaching goal of and for efficient conveniences, but such a situation only degrades social and environmental conditions in the long run. Live short and prosper, eh?
The movie examines the ranchers who raise the cattle, the suppliers who slaughter and ship the meats, the (illegal) workers who work for the suppliers, the company who buys the meat to sale it to the end users, and the end users. And then there are the idealistic youth who don't like the game and talk/plan of change.
Many people will not like this movie due to its highly political nature but judge it as a movie and not an ideal and you probably enjoy it.
 Not a great documentary as I hope for December 30, 2008
vincent. A. (California)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I should of just read the book instead. Judging from some reviews, the book seems to be a lot better than the movie. The movie just seems fake to me because I wasn't presented with new surprising facts about the how fast food restaurant operates. I thought I would be getting some movie similar to Sicko and Supersize Me. The movie makes me feel like they are trying to connect two movie into one but fail to do that. If you are looking for a good documentary on the corruptions and evil doing of fast food restaurant, I think you will be disappointed.
 Very, very effective!! October 2, 2008
J. O. Booker (St. Louis Mo.)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Fast Food Nation didn't make me a vegetarian. I guess I'm like most people: when it comes down to the dirty details, I'd rather not know. Like war, no one wants to see a bunch of dead and maimed soldiers. To have an idea of something is one thing: to actually know, see, and understand that thing is quite another. We hear about illegal workers coming into this country, and we hear about subhuman slaughterhouse conditions--all of these things we hear about in abstract. But seeing these issues in a specific context enables us to understand these issues.
Fast Food Nation is a fabric of interwoven threads. The film opens in a dark alley in a U.S. border town in Mexico. Smugglers collect fees from a small group of poor Mexicans. The scene shifts from Mexico to the corporate offices of Mickey's Burgers in Anaheim California. The CEO of Mickey's Burgers has a problem: a culture test found high levels of fecal matter in their frozen patties. The CEO sends an executive--played by Greg Kinnear--to trace the source of the infection. The film shifts back to Mexico. Smugglers process a bunch of poor Mexicans through a labyrinth of sleazy motels and packed vans. Eventually, the Mexicans cross the border into the U.S. and wind up in a grimy drop house. Here, the supervisor of a meat processing plant--a tall sticky-looking white male--looks over the human livestock. He waves a casual finger around the walls and the floor selecting the strongest males and the most attractive females.
A couple of new hires are led through the meat processing plant. The floors and walls are spotless and glowing. The employees' uniforms are snow-white. The new hires receive their white shiny hard-hats, their white shiny aprons, and take their places at the receiving end of the production line--the last stage of the meat processing line; the kill-floor is the first stage of the meat processing line. Another plot-thread involves a teenage girl named Amber who works at one of the Mickey Burger chains. She's bright and intelligent. She has a lot of potential, but she's afraid to leave Mickey Burgers because it is her first job. Back at the meat processing plant, there's drama at the slicing section of the production line: jealousy. A couple of female line-workers strive for the affection and favoritism of the line-manager. The females use their bodies to negotiate favors from the line-manager. In another plot-thread, a group of young Eco-activists sublimate their frustrations against animal abuse by freeing cows from the ranch that supplies the meat processing plant. But when the gates to those filthy pens fly open, the cows--with dung and urine clinging to their legs--refuse to leave. The activists kick and yell at the cows, but the content animals remain in the filthy pen where they'll eventually be slaughtered and transformed into Mickey Burgers.
Greg Kinnear, Bruce Willis, Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Luis Guzman, etc., all performed well in this underrated film from 2006.
Richard Linklater and Eric Schlosser, who authored the bestselling expose of the same title, co-wrote Fast Food Nation. Linklater is one of my favorite directors; his films are both brainy and entertaining. The disparate elements of Fast Food Nation--illegal immigration, animal abuse, sexual abuse, corporate greed and irresponsibility, etc.--converge into a grisly and powerful metaphor on the consequences of fear and complacency. In many ways, humans and cows have much in common. This is a great film with an important message. I highly recommend it.
author of Gotta Be Down!
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