Movie Reviews

Word to the wise: Don't go for burgers before catching this flick. In fact, by the end, you may swear off ground beef for good.

Based on the bestselling exposé, this adaptation eschews a documentary approach for a fictional take, interweaving multiple characters and storylines. And while Fast Food gives you plenty to chew on, it never totally satisfies.

Greg Kinnear stars as an exec for the restaurant chain Mickey's (not McDonald's—wink, wink). Tasked with investigating how fecal matter is getting into their patties (hungry now?), he travels to Cody, Colorado, the site of a huge meat-packing plant.

Boorish Bobby Cannavale supervises plant employees, including many illegal Mexican immigrants, and tries to prove himself the stud of the slaughterhouse—he's a sexual-harassment lawsuit waiting to happen.

Cody is also home to high schooler Ashley Johnson, a cashier at the local Mickey's. After a rah-rah talk from uncle Ethan Hawke, Johnson quits her job and joins an activist group that attempts to free cattle from the feedlot.

Fortunately, director Richard Linklater keeps all this from getting didactic, while still infusing the film with a pervasive sense of danger. But Nation's layered narrative is only intermittently successful, with some storylines less realized than others and Kinnear disappearing for a chunk of the movie. But get set for some fun cameos, notably Kris Kristofferson as a local rancher and Bruce Willis as a meat supplier who sneers, "We all need to eat a little shit from time to time." Gulp.

Consider this one done medium-well.