“One ‘Size’ Fits All”
by Scott Mantz

“Super Size Me”
Directed by Morgan Spurlock

Warning!  Eating fast food may be hazardous to Morgan Spurlock's health in "Super Size Me"

Let’s see if this scenario sounds familiar…

You’re driving home at the end of a long, stressful day. You’re hungry, but you’re tired, and the last thing you want to do when you walk in the door is cook a meal. So what do you do? You make a pit-stop at the nearest McDonald’s drive-thru for some tasty comfort food, consisting of a Big Mac, french fries and a Coke. You get home, you wolf it down, and about an hour later…you feel like crap.

That’s what you get for eating fast food!

It may not come as much of a surprise to hear that fast food is bad for you, but what is surprising is just how devastating an over-abundance of it can be on your physical and mental well-being. That’s what producer-director-guinea pig Morgan Spurlock found out during one crazy month-long McBinge, and the result is the recent Sundance Film Festival hit “Super Size Me,” a fascinating, harrowing and ultimately informative documentary that will probably turn you off of fast food for good.

How’s this for a staggering stat: about 37% of American children are carrying too much fat, and two out of every three adults are overweight. Who’s at fault for this alarming proportion of obesity? Does the responsibility fall to the consumer, or are the big corporations to blame? Spurlock hit the road to get some answers, and in the process, he interviewed a multitude of people in 20 U.S. cities across the country, ranging from parents to kids, freaks to geeks, lawmakers to legislators, and Surgeon Generals to teachers..

But Spurlock saved his boldest experiment for himself. Much to the chagrin of his vegan girlfriend, he would eat nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days straight while sticking to a strict diet. He had to eat every item on the menu at least once while consuming three square meals a day, and he could only “super size” each meal if he was offered. What started out as a light-hearted experiment gradually turned into a serious health risk, as the formerly-fit Spurlock packed on almost 25 pounds while dealing with heart palpitations, chest pains and a dangerously high cholesterol level.

So much for the notion of comfort food…

The shocking revelations made by “Super Size Me” about the fattening of America and, more importantly, the influence of fast food on popular culture are often hard to digest. Among them, more people had a harder time remembering the Pledge of Allegiance than the ingredients of a Big Mac, and most kids were able to identify a photo of Ronald McDonald much faster than photos of President George W. Bush and even Jesus Christ.

Amazingly, Spurlock completes a character arc that’s much more compelling than fictional characters found in most big-budget Hollywood films. It’s hard not to feel for Spurlock, whose initially giddy excitement turns into genuine concern after repeated warnings from various doctors. But through all the vomiting, the upset stomachs and the emotional depression, Spurlock plows on to the bitter end, when he has a party to celebrate the conclusion of his experiment at (where else?) McDonald’s.

Okay, so Spurlock’s experiment went a bit too far (a fact that even he freely admits), but as for who’s really responsible for the fattening of America, maybe it just comes down to common sense. Yes, we all know that fast food is bad for you, but so are cigarettes, ice cream, eggs and…well, lots of things. The point is that the next time you feel the urge to take a detour to the nearest drive-thru at the end of a long day, think twice. Maybe skipping a Big Mac in favor of a healthy home-cooked meal isn’t such a bad idea after all.

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