Fed Up
RADiUS-TWC | Release Date: May 9, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
IndieWireRobert Cameron FowlerMay 11, 2014
Fed Up is a glossy package that gets its warnings across loud and clear: we need to change what we eat. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 9, 2014
Alarmist to an almost apocalyptic degree, the film is nevertheless packed with enough basic facts and figures to give any eater serious pause. Or at least any eater who indulges in sugar. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanMay 8, 2014
A surprisingly in-depth and confrontational examination into the obesity epidemic among Americans, especially children, over the last 30 years. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyMelissa MaerzMay 7, 2014
Some lessons are overfamiliar (almonds good, corn syrup bad), but the section on corporate influence over school lunches is enough to make you spit out that 20-ounce soda from the concession stand. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla DargisMay 8, 2014
A whirlwind of talking heads, found footage, scary statistics and cartoonish graphics, the movie is a fast, coolly incensed investigation into why people are getting fatter. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenMay 8, 2014
Soechtig puts mainstream clout to work to deliver a hard-hitting message. Her mix of archival material, punchy graphics and concise talking-head commentary traces a troubling modern history. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMay 7, 2014
Even our First Lady isn’t safe from this documentary. Fed Up contends that Michelle Obama’s fight against childhood obesity and her Let’s Move campaign have been co-opted by the food industry. Ever notice how no one ever talks anymore about her vegetable garden on the White House lawn and its consequent argument for the consumption of freshly prepared foods over the processed varieties? Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoMay 26, 2014
It's hard to argue with the movie's basic point. Dr. Robert Lustig of UCSF sums it up in three words: "Sugar is poison." Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill StametsMay 22, 2014
Snappy graphics channel the info flow like a sugar rush. Scary music cues are overused. Narrator Katie Couric wisely stays offscreen. That keeps Fed Up from feeling like an Oprah special. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartMay 10, 2014
In a move sure to infuriate “nanny state” critics, director Stephanie Soechtig names the US government and food corporations responsible for a campaign to get Americans addicted to junk food — particularly, and most dangerously, sugar — as early as possible. Read full review
75
USA TodayScott BowlesMay 8, 2014
And that's Fed Up's ultimate, if not fatal, weakness: The movie seems to acquit consumers of any culpability in our health crisis. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 8, 2014
Fed Up has a fire in its belly to change things. Naïve? Maybe. So what. I say, Godspeed. Here is something rare at the multiplex: a movie that matters. Read full review
75
Boston GlobePeter KeoughMay 8, 2014
Like “An Inconvenient Truth” (2006), the Oscar-winning film about climate change, it is a call to action. As a screed, it builds a credible, engaging argument, presenting evidence, statistics, talking-head testimony, whimsical charts, poignant personal stories, and animated illustrations of digestive processes to make its case. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 8, 2014
Fed Up isn’t so much a warning to the ignorant shopper or a tip for the unimaginative chef as it is a rallying cry. It succeeds in firing up the choir. Whether it will convert the complacent is an open question. Read full review
70
The DissolveNathan RabinMay 8, 2014
Along with producer Laurie David (who was also behind Inconvenient Truth) and director Stephanie Soechtig, Couric has made an unabashed muckraking documentary that ends with a call to action that’s half inspirational, half grating. It’s propaganda, to be sure, but effective propaganda. Read full review
70
Village VoiceChris PackhamMay 6, 2014
Fed Up is a workmanlike documentary, as undistinguished in style as a PowerPoint slide show. It nonetheless finds traction in its depiction of the food industry's Montgomery Burns–like practices. Read full review
70
VarietyGeoff BerkshireApr 6, 2014
A formulaic and functional documentary that nevertheless proves effective at getting the message out about America’s addiction to unhealthy food. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMay 8, 2014
Like most mediocre documentaries these days, Fed Up alternates between regurgitated facts (often presented in snazzy animated interludes), talking-head interviews, and a “human angle” involving a few regular folks who are struggling with the problem in question. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMay 9, 2014
Like most movies of its bent, Fed Up can’t admit the thing that Al Pacino gets so tetchy about at the climax of "And Justice For All...," which is that "the whole system is out of order." Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMay 8, 2014
Despite the film’s worthy goals, there are some empty calories. Katie Couric’s narration and Soechtig’s uninspired style make it feel more like a TV special than a feature documentary. Read full review
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