One of the nice things about living in Los Angeles is there’s always a ready supply of test and advance screenings for upcoming movies.
Last night I was invited to a preview of Fast Food Nation, a film sharing the title of the excellent Eric Schlosser novel. While Schlosser is involved with the project, the film is not a documentary but instead a fictitious story based on the contents of his book. Three separate narratives follow topics from the book; The hazardous conditions facing illegal immigrants exploited by corporations, the small-town teenagers who balance education with a minimum-wage fast-food job, and the secrets behind the public face of the fast food companies.
Unfortunately the result is neither an eye-opening documentary about the fast-food industry, nor a piece of fiction that does justice to the subject matter it attempts to cover.
