Super Size Me

Theatrical Release Date: 2004 05 07 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 829567002421

Studio: Virgil Films & Entertainment

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Adult Language]

Summary: First-time director Morgan Spurlock takes a look at the subject of obesity in the United States, specifically zeroing in on the business and culture surrounding the nation's fast-food industry in this 2004 documentary. In addition to studying the marketing of fast food to American children and unsuccessfully attempting to gain an interview with McDonald's executives, Spurlock attempts to become one of his own subjects by documenting a one-month binge during which he survived only on items from the McDonald's menu, forcing himself to eat three meals a day and try every offering at least once. Super Size Me premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Category: Culture & Society

Awards: Documentary Directing Prize – Sundance Film Festival Film Presented – SXSW In Competition – Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Best Documentary – National Board of Review Best Documentary – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Documentary Feature – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Documentary – Writers Guild of America New Director's Award – Edinburgh International Film Festival

Super Size Me

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 05/20/2010

Perry Seibert

Morgan Spurlock, the director of Super Size Me, came up with a great hook for his debut as a documentary filmmaker. His experiment, to eat nothing but three McDonalds meals a day every day for 30 consecutive days, provides an entertaining and occasionally disturbing narrative thread that allows for informative and engaging tangents about American culture's disturbing trend toward obesity. Though the prose in his voice-overs occasionally reveals Spurlock's amateurism, the editing and the quality of his interviews more than make up for it. Spurlock has absorbed the work of Michael Moore and manages to achieve the same intricate balance between laughter, shock, and information that makes Moore's films entertaining, although Spurlock is without any righteous anger. Spurlock understands how to present his interviewees in fascinating ways. The health advocate heir to the Baskin Robbins fortune, a school chef, and a man who eats 750 Big Macs a year are just three examples of how Spurlock gives his subjects enough screen time to allow the viewer to get a sense of who they are as people, not just pawns in Spurlock's film. While he could easily have exploited his relationship with his charming vegan chef girlfriend, Spurlock instead makes her an equal in the film. She provides some of the best emotional moments in the film. Spurlock successfully melds personal filmmaking techniques, investigative journalism, and a healthy interest in other people to make an engaging film on an important topic. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Morgan Spurlock  Actor 
J.R. Morley  Executive Producer 
Heather M. Winters  Executive Producer 
Morgan Spurlock  Director 
Morgan Spurlock  Producer 
Steve Horowitz  Composer (Music Score) 

Country: USA