Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Jon I'm a near-vegetarian, and have been now for several years. I've been acutely aware of the of fast food factory farming, and I've educated myself in the horrors of fast food's effects on heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, soil erosion, greenhouse emissions, and the corporate greed and governmental indolence that allows it to poison the citizenry daily. In addition, I've battled my own addiction to fast food and obesity over years, and have helped my father battle his cancer through nutrition; I consider fast food a personal enemy, not just an abstract irritant.Beyond that, I'm a fan of director Richard Linklater, and his "Slacker" and "Waking Life" are two of my favorite films.In short, if there's anyone who *should* like "Fast Food Nation," it's me. But this movie is wretched disaster! Linklater takes a non-fiction book as his source material, and tries to make a story out of it, or not--maybe he tried, maybe he didn't--all I know is it didn't happen. This a wandering, meandering mess of meaningless, useless characters.There's a corporate schmoe who's just learning how unclean the meat his company produces actually is. A story almost develops around his investigation of how it's produced, but its dropped just when it seems to be going somewhere.There's a group of illegal aliens hired by a criminal meat-packing plant--but we don't care about them either. They're presented as stock figures in ensemble. The attempt at creating a story for them is pathetically feeble.Linklater trots out other almost-characters in turn, the high-school boy who fantasizes about robbing his fast-food store (but doesn't), and the girl who tries to set cows free, but these are non-events, too.I lost interest in the film early on, but kept watching as long as I could stand past that point, well past the middle. After that, I fast-forwarded, stopping occasionally to see if there was anything worth watching. There wasn't, at least, not for me.This is a crying shame. More than that, it's an infuriating shame. Linklater is nothing if not a visionary director, the cast is nothing if not talented, and the subject is nothing if not a matter of paramount importance. FFN should've been a wild, sardonic, exposé, a trip into the innards of the food industry's machine with the entertainment to keep you in your seat, and the honesty to enlighten you.Apparently, FFN *has* worked for some people, and for that I'm grateful, but I can't recommend it myself. Morgan Spurlock's wonderful, shocking, and yet enjoyable "Super-Size Me" is the one to watch, hitting all the bases that FFN should've, with wit, humor, and compassion to spare.

Mike B This film gets an 'A' for being unique and original; I have not seen a movie like this one before. It does authentically capture a sense of the wryness and mundaneness of life in America (ubiquitous fast foods, hotels, super hi-ways, super-farms... ) It also captures people trying to find a way out.There are three groups of these in the movie - the executives, the migrants and the cashiers. The story revolves around these three.In brief the executives (Greg Kinnear) try to find out what is going on with the food they are making and selling. It is obvious they have little control and idea of what that entails - aside from the 40 cents per pound. This is the most chilling part of the story, particularly the conversations with Bruce Willis and Kris Kristofferson. The migrants (imported Mexicain workers)process the cattle and the cashiers sell us the burgers.If you are expecting a coalescing of these three groups featured in movies like Crash and Pulp Fiction - well there isn't any - and I feel the movie is stronger for avoiding this convergence gimmick. However the film is meandering with a lot of conversations - most work, but some just seem like a lot of babbling. What is the point of this uncle talking with his niece - the cashier? We already know she doesn't want to work the cash for the rest of her life - it's overkill to have a 10 minute conversation between uncle, niece and her brain-dead mother to tell us this.

The_Piano_Player 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.

DKosty123 This film takes a very serious book and tries to make it into a movie but in doing so seems to lose the focus of the issues it presents. That is because it goes into several issues. The main focus is the abuse of animals and workers in making burgers for consumption at America's Fast Food Restaurants. The burgers are supposed to be contaminated with animal droppings to put it nicely.The film looks at the illegal alien problem in America in that it shows meat plant workers being UN-documented folks who come across the border. It goes into some sexual & drug problems with a supervisor having his way with many of the women at his plant. Late in the movie it shows the killing room. The film presents an inept group of teens who nearly get themselves hurt trying to help the cows.Because of the number of issues presented, the film tends to lose focus and not present any of them effectively enough. The pace of the movie is something akin to watching an entire professional golf tournament. If your into the activity, you will stick it out. If your not, you will lose your focus too.After seeing this, I get the feeling the book which I have not read, might be a stronger plot. This is like Melba toast.