Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Morgan Spurlock subjects himself to a diet based only on McDonald's fast food three times a day for thirty days without exercising to try to prove why so many Americans are fat or obese. He submits himself to a complete check-up by three doctors, comparing his weight along the way, resulting in a scary conclusion.
Super Size Me is a genuinely distinctive and influential documentary that popularized the personal-experiment format in non-fiction filmmaking. Spurlock's 30-day McDonald's-only diet is a memorable and provocative conceit that sparked widespread cultural conversation about fast food and American obesity. The novelty is high — few documentaries have used a self-imposed stunt so effectively to make a public health argument. However, cinematography is workmanlike at best, typical of mid-budget early-2000s documentaries with little visual ambition. Acting is not really applicable in the traditional sense, but Spurlock's on-screen presence is engaging though occasionally gimmicky. The plot follows a fairly linear and predictable arc — we know his health will deteriorate — and the ending, while sobering, doesn't deliver a surprising or particularly resonant conclusion beyond confirming what was already implied. Methodologically the film has also been criticized for lacking scientific rigor, which slightly undercuts its argumentative power.