Fast Food Nation - ACE Train Movie Review

Mickey's is the most popular fast-food chain in America, and The Big One is the top-selling burger that put them on the map. When the higher-ups at Mickey's corporate offices learn that the frozen meat patties used to make the wildly popular burger have somehow been tainted with contaminated meat, they send marketing executive Don Henderson on an urgent mission to ensure quality control and find out precisely how their product became compromised. It's a long way from the Southern California boardroom to the immigrant slaughterhouses, though, and the further Henderson works his way through the bustling feedlots and toward the ubiquitous restaurant sites that have become a staple of modern culture, the more he begins to realize just how dangerous convenience can become when it leads to blissfully ignorant complacency.

This movie will make you think twice about ordering that hamburger you want for dinner since it's pretty graphic and shocking to see how a burger is actually made and all of the implications it has on society at large. It paints a pretty disturbing picture that should obviously be viewed as one side of the story instead of a complete picture. As far as scary food movies go, I still think Super Size Me is the best by far as it's a documentary instead of a fictionalized film based on a non-fiction book written by an investigative journalist. Although, this film tells more of the "end-to-end" story of the fast food industry instead of one guy's experience. I'm amazed at the number of familiar faces they got to be in this film - are they all vegetarians, political activists or just needed to make a buck? In any case, it's interesting enough to watch once, just not before dinner.

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, Luis Guzman, Wilmer Valderrama, Avril Lavigne, Bruce Willis

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.