Watch Super Size Me

Morgan Spurlock's fantastic documentary on what fast food does to a body is a fascinating. Specifically ingesting only McDonald's fast food for 30 days, Spurlock creates and films an eye-opening piece that drives home a point never investigated in this way before. Morgan personally invests his health and his body in exploring the direct effects of eating McDonald's food, and nothing else, for 30 grueling days. The range of emotions and eye opening effects that this diet has not only on his body but on his mind astound the viewer.

Interwoven with humor, the movie is easily watchable and does not feel preachy or condescending in its message. He makes funny quips or points, especially in the beginning before the tolls of the diet start to wear down his sharp mind. I especially laughed, and understood his meaning, when he said that he would not allow his future children to associate McDonald's with "toys" and "happy meals", instead he would give them a slight good hearted smack when they drove by the restaurants so they would associate the chain with an unhappy thought, not childlike glee.

Morgan comes from a fairly regimented diet that is probably stricter than most to begin with. His girlfriend, who adds delightful concern and genuine observations of the changes of Morgan throughout the film, is a die hard vegan and is appalled at even looking at the food he will be ingested, much less understanding how he will survive on it. Morgan is a healthy eater, however he does enjoy occasional strays from the diet that is his girlfriend's lifestyle choice. He goes into the investigation probably healthier than most however, so to see the effects may be even more dramatic because of where he begins.

Morgan's health deteriorates substantially throughout the film, even to the point where he is unsure if it is even wise to continue to the end of the 30 day mark. His doctors and his girlfriend are genuinely concerned after seeing the test changes in the test results that have been run throughout the filming plummet so significantly towards the end. Massive amounts of toxins are attacking his body in ways that none of them have foreseen. It is easy to see that the results and reactions of them all are genuine and not just some hyped up bit to amp up the film.

Spurlock does a good job as well of trying to present both sides of the spectrum in interviewing folks that have eaten basically the same diet for years and not had dramatic results. He speaks to one patron of McDonald's who holds a record for eating there the most days in a row. But the viewer is left with a thoughtful idea to ponder as Morgan states that this patron, while ingesting hamburgers from the chain every day with no substantial side effects, also never eats the french fries. It makes one wonder which foods are to blame for the overall detriment to health.

The film is timeless as it is just as relevant today as when it was filmed a few years ago. A must see for everyone in today's age of fast food joints on ever corner.

Super Size Me is a 2003 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 40 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.2 and a MetaScore of 73.