Grade: C-
Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation” was thought by most observers to be an unfilmable book, and Richard Linklater’s film of the same title proves that opinion was pretty much correct. Linklater and Schlosser haven’t so much made a movie of the tome, which was a fact-filled screed against the burgers-and-fries industry and its baleful impact on the national health and culture, as they’ve constructed a fictional narrative or two set within the business and then plunked periodic speeches about the issues Schlosser’s book raised into the story-line. Aside from taking a documentary perspective on the subject, it’s hard to imagine any other cinematic approach. But unfortunately, it doesn’t result in a very good movie.
There are a couple of reasons for this. One’s that the screenplay doesn’t hang together very well, going off as it does in too many directions and involving a small army of characters. The first half centers on Don Henderson (Greg Kinnear), a Vice President of a burger chain called Mickey’s, who’s sent to a Colorado town that houses its chief beef supply plant after tests indicate fecal material in the meat patties. Don’s investigation takes him to the local outlet owned by the amiable Tony (Esai Morales), where student Amber (Ashley Johnson) works behind the counter and slacker Brian (Paul Dano) serves as one of the cooks. But it centers on the packing plant, where womanizing line supervisor Mike (Bobby Cannavale) keeps things running with largely illegal immigrant labor. He also engages in rather didactic conversations with the company’s middle-man with the meat plant, cynical Harry (Bruce Willis), and a gruff local rancher named Rudy (Kris Kristofferson), who explains in op-ed page prose how the cattle business has changed.
After all this, though, Henderson, uncertain about whether to opt for principle or pragmatism, abruptly vanishes (he does reappear briefly at the close for a final gag), leaving the stage to a group of illegals who’ve been transported to town by smuggler Benny (Luiz Guzman). They include quietly ambitious Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno), her sister Coco (Ana Claudia Telancon), and her hard-working boyfriend Raul (Wilmer Valderrama). Their work at the plant becomes the focus of the second half of the picture, with Mike eyeing the women and Raul falling victim to the plant’s lack of substantive medical help for injured workers. And there are still other characters who wander in and out of the scene, including Amber’s hip uncle Pete (Ethan Hawke), who serves as a sort of unofficial advisor to her, and a bunch of enthusiastic but inept activist college students, who try without much success to liberate a bunch of cows from company pens.
And these are only some of the figures by whom the movie is populated.
There are occasional flashes of insight, gnarly humor and poignant drama found in this melange (as well as some shots of the slaughter-house worthy of Upton Sinclair), but the disjointed quality of the piece, when combined with Linklater’s customarily lackadaisical directing style, robs the picture of narrative backbone. Individual scenes are flabby and distended, lacking the underlying strength they need. And it doesn’t help that plot strands one expects to be followed up merely die on the vine. The departure of Kinnear’s VP is one thing, but at another point, for example, Brian and his pal, who predictably hate their jobs, plan to rob the restaurant; but then they suddenly disappear, never to show up again. Guzman’s smuggler is seen in one episode, and then vanishes, too. The randomly dangling threads might have been easier to take if Linklater’s approach were less flabby, but taken together, the two elements make “Fast Food Nation” seem a lot longer than its 114 minutes.
As to the cast, few are around long enough to make more than fleeting impressions, and even they don’t benefit from Linklater’s laissez-faire methods. The most notable are probably Moreno and Valderrama, with whom the audience builds the greatest emotional rapport, but though Kinnear is given substantial screen time, his geniality doesn’t count for much in this context, and Cannavale’s brutish intensity has a one-note quality. In their relatively tiny parts, the likes of Willis, Hawke, Kristofferson and Patricia Arquette have little to offer beside the fact that they’re immediately recognizable. On the technical side, the picture is adequate, but hardly exceptional; there’s not a great deal of style on display here. But that, too, is characteristic of the semi-grubby look Linklater cultivates.
One would have expected any movie based on “Fast Food Nation” to be vital and insistent. But this one is meek and curiously lethargic. Instead of anger it offers a sort of subdued irritation that doesn’t even make it to resigned sadness. As a result it carries neither satirical bite nor emotional punch, an indictment delivered in an oddly mellow tone. Don’t order a helping.