Fast Food Nation
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: November 17, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Fast Food Nation has the dramatic flatness and willful lack of personality of some documentaries -- or at least how Linklater thinks a documentary should be. The movie nonetheless feels like both a work of investigative journalism and an immense human-interest story, veering into muckraking, horror, teen comedy, and what passes for "Twilight Zone" science fiction. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Viewers expecting a blistering attack on the fast-food business, or an Altmanesque panorama, will be disappointed, but it's a sensitive and humane piece of work. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Like two of the year's other standout American films, Kelly Reichardt's "Old Joy" and Ryan Fleck's "Half Nelson," it's a movie of ideas in which the ideas flow effortlessly out of the material instead of being plastered on top with a heavy cement roller (as in "Crash," "Babel" and "Little Children"). Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Naturally, a subject this right-on draws a right-on cast. Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, and Ethan Hawke pitch in. Read full review
83
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Fast Food Nation offers no easy answers, but plenty of food for thought. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
It's a mirror and a portrait, and a movie as necessary and nourishing as your next meal. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
If Linklater regards the fake culture that has replaced real places with horror, he has nothing but respect and affection for his characters, and the movie is rescued from nihilism by his humanistic view. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Many reviews have suggested that this is as politically mild as a John Sayles movie, but Linklater clearly agrees with the frustrated kid who says, "Right now, I can't think of anything more patriotic than violating the Patriot Act." Read full review
80
Film ThreatDon R. Lewis
Through it all, Fast Food Nation never really preaches to viewers, it just lays ideas out there. In that respect, it's every bit a talky, philosophical Richard Linklater movie. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's less an expose of junk-food culture than a human drama, sprinkled with sly, provoking wit, about how that culture defines how we live. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Linklater's working-class mosaic is seriously interested in how most of this country gets by for a living. And that, sadly, makes it distinctive. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Fast Food Nation picks up, and drops off, various members of its cast, sometimes without a satisfying resolution. But its final scenes, inside a real working meatpacking plant, on the killing floor, are brutally to the point. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The result is a hodgepodge: not as unpleasant as the alleged foodstuffs described in Schlosser's book, but not exactly prime rib. Read full review
75
PremiereEthan Alter
What sets Fast Food Nation apart from other recent multi-character studies like "Crash," "Bobby," and "Babel" is that Linklater doesn't set up a single incident that ties all the story strands together. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Richard Linklater's rough-hewn tapestry of assorted lives that feed off of and into the American meat industry is both rangy and mangy; it remains appealing for its subversive motives and revelations even as one wishes its knife would have been sharper. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A more materialist (and successful) ensemble film than the mystical "Babel," in that everyone is connected through the same economic system, Fast Food Nation is exotic for being a movie about work. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Less a movie than a political act, Fast Food Nation aims to disseminate its counter-propaganda to the widest possible audience, which is the only plausible reason why the book has been shoehorned into a narrative instead of a documentary. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's a bold proposition, and the resulting film has some powerful moments and strong performances, but it fails to be an involving or satisfying drama, and it's not half as effective as the book in creating outrage over what junk food is doing to us. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
One of the great frustrations associated with Fast Food Nation is the way it drops subplots. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Fast Food Nation would have benefited from a longer running time -- the movie often feels like it's missing big chunks of plot -- but Linklater's cautionary message gets through. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Presenting facts in a wrapper of fiction only muddies the waters, and many of the film's subtler points are likely to slip by viewers who haven't first read Schlosser's book. Other salient points are shoehorned into the dialogue, rendering key scenes preachy, heavy-handed and dramatically inert. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
It gets the job done and then some, but it's ugly and clumsily shaped, and every scene is there to rack up sociological points. Read full review
60
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Works far better as journalism than as drama. One weakness is that poor Linklater has to keep bringing in guest explainers, who lay out one policy or another but have nothing whatsoever to do with the story. Read full review
60
EmpireDamon Wise
A gross and engrossing attempt to humanise a hot-button subject, using a star-sprinkled cast to reveal some unpalatable truths. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Following up on Morgan Spurlock's wildly successful indie film "Super Size Me," critics of fast food were hoping that a one-two punch would further raise consciousness among consumers and purveyors alike. Alas, Fast Food Nation is punchless. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Dispiriting, unsubtle and unpleasant. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
For all the filmmaker's good intentions, Fast Food Nation isn't a particularly good movie. It doesn't hold together or grip you the way a documentary might have. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The movie is designed to stir up controversy. (Linklater and Schlosser have admitted as much.) But can you really stir up controversy with a lesson plan? Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason McBride
A frustratingly toothless film whose heart is in the right place even if its head isn't. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
As a character-driven narrative, it's a hollow beast, too often pedantic, that smacks of good-guy agitprop, shrill when it should be subtle and shrieking when a whisper would be far more unnerving. Read full review
40
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The movie is halfhearted, fragmentary, unachieved. Read full review
40
SlateDana Stevens
Even if you swear off burgers forever, it won't make Fast Food Nation's characters come to life. Read full review
12
New York PostKyle Smith
If I wanted to spend $10.75 making myself sick, I'd buy a bottle of cheap tequila. Read full review
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