Fat Bottom Girls Make the World Go Round

Showtime ended it's free weekend with a movie that I have wanted to see for a while but didn't really want to actually pay for it, Super Size Me. So, thank you, Showtime for finally providing me with something to watch during Monday's dismal T.V. programming schedule. Even though I really didn't really learn anything new about a McDonald’s diet, even McDonalds Inc. admitted that it is common knowledge that their food is not good for you; there were aspects of the film that surprised me. First, and foremost, was the school for at risk school that served the healthy food. My surprised is how the food preparation is competitive in price with other meal programs yet very few school systems implement it. It doesn't take a nutritionist to know that sugary foods have a negative impact on kids' attitudes. But Morgan Spurlock alludes to why this doesn't change: big business (i.e. Coke, McDonalds et al) owns are government thru donations and lobbyists.

Even though Super Size Me is not as funny as the other major documentary from last year, there are some funny parts to the movie. His irritated girlfriend was always good for a chuckle especially how his diet affected their sex life (or lack there of). It does utilize music that much, but when it does, the songs are a perfect fit. The movie opens to Fat Bottom Girls while describing how obese our country is. Then later in the film during a segment on food addition, they started playing the old Superfly song, Pusherman. Perfect fit.

Overall it was a decent documentary, very educational. Brings to light one of the biggest (no pun intended) epidemics in America that is severely under discussed. One of my favorite parts of the movie is when a doctor talks about how it socially acceptable to tell smokers how unhealthy that it is but it isn't to point out the health risks of obesity. Very true yet very ignored. The one place where I feel the move disappoints is that Spurlock is quick to talk about how bad McDonalds is for you but doesn't spend that much time on giving the audience a healthy alternative or ways to combat obesity. Hopefully Spurlock didn't ignore this but instead was saving it for the sequel, Un-Super Size Me, which chronicles the 9 months it took him to get back to his pre-McDonalds diet weight.

Super Size Me gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.