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"Jackass" Meets Public Health in "Super Size Me."

By Greg Beacham
Salt Lake City Weekly | June 21, 2004
Super Size Me HHH

If Johnny Knoxville went back to college and got his master’s degree in public health, his dissertation might have been this comedic documentary. A guy named Morgan Spurlock decided to gorge himself at the trough of the American fast-food industry for a month, ostensibly to highlight the ghastly results of eating the food that dominates our collective consciousness. It’s an engaging and altogether unsettling film, both for the results of this social experiment and the blithe recklessness with which Spurlock pursues his get-famous-quick scheme. As he gains 30 pounds and sends his liver into toxic shock, our attention isn’t focused on the health issues he allegedly did it to highlight. But it’s hard to hate on Spurlock when he’s vomiting up a Big Mac, because that’s compelling stuff. This is performance art, and it's wildly successful—even if we ultimately didn’t really learn that much. (NR)—GB
Tags: Morgan Spurlock, Super Size Me

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