By Emir Parrotta (June 6, 2004)

Morgan Spurlock. Physically active male, 185.5 lbs. All this was about to change for this writer/director who embarked on a mission to consume only McDonalds foodstuff for 30 days, and limit his exercise to that of the average American—essentially, none.

In the muckraking style of Michael Moore, "Super-Size Me" is replete with fatty figures and fun factoids. For example, Spurlock tells us that two out of every three adults in this country are obese or overweight; 37% of the American youth are unhealthily plump; and the filmmaker himself gains a whopping 25 pounds, turns his liver into fat, and suffers several heart and respiratory difficulties.

But that does not nearly move the viewer as mush as seeing a sweaty Spurlock spend the better part of an hour trying to wolf down a super-sized combo meal, only to vomit directly afterwards. He comments on the pressure he feels on his chest, the twitches in his arms, the withdrawal and depression that he feels when he is not gorging.

This Sundance award-winning documentary is also particularly indicting of the school lunch industry. He visits a cafeteria and talks to students about their French fries and soda diet. The images were very real. At lunch, I sit next to a person who eats a pre-made sandwich, two ice creams, and two hormone-contaminated, high fructose Nestle milk products on a regular basis; and another person who has some candy and Sun Chips.

This movie-making guinea pig makes a journey through 20 cities, interviewing everyone from health experts to life-long McAddicts, with one goal: to find the reason why the United States is so unbelievably fat. And whose fault is it; the indulgent masses, or the fast-food giants?

Quite predictably, since this is a high quality, independent movie, it is only showing at a couple of selected theaters, most notably the E Street Cinema, NW, near Metro Center.