You'll want to give up McDonald's... again

Anyone who swore off fast food after seeing "Super Size Me" two years ago is probably hooked on the stuff once again. Now it's up to "Fast Food Nation" to scare the crap out of us all over again.\nAuthor Eric Schlosser and director Richard Linklater ("School of Rock," "Dazed and Confused") have turned Schlosser's non-fiction book into a story line examining the social and health risks on a personal, smaller level by following several characters immersed in the fast food world. Greg Kinnear takes center stage as a marketing exec for Mickey's (the fictional McDonald's of the film), who heads out to Colorado to inspect the company's meat providers after he learns there's feces (yep, you've probably eaten poop-covered food at some time in your life) in the meat. Wilmer Valderrama (wait, since when can he actually act?) and Catalina Sandino Moreno play a married illegal immigrant couple who come to America to work in the slaughterhouse. The likeable Ashley Johnson is Amber, who works the register at Mickey's.\nLinklater wisely practices subtlety instead of turning the film into a whistle-blowing, take down the corporation kind of overblown production. However, this restraint often robs the film from the sharp bite its subject matter provokes. The understated approach thankfully also prevents some revulsion as the health problems are mostly discussed rather than shown. That is until the end when we are introduced to "the killing floor" of the meat plant. This scene will make you want to give up meat altogether, not just fast food. The cow heads are always positioned ever so slightly as to allow eye contact with the animal as the fall into the shredder.\nThe film doesn't offer any easy answers. Everyone pretty much accepts that they're stuck in their crappy situation, and the individual is screwed when facing big business. Not all hope is lost, though, as Ethan Hawke shows up as Amber's nonconformist uncle to preach the importance of self-sufficiency and slam corporate America.