I have to admit I didn't read the book. However I don't really feel I had to as this screenplay was so sloppy in its attempt to create a story around the social commentary of the book, its characters seemed hollow, and plugged in, to fit an overarching theme that came out loud and clear - and much more loud, than clear.I have to admit I was disappointed in feeling like I was being force-fed a political commentary about illegal immigration, corporate corruption, and the lot. I always believed movies/stories were about carefully constructing an interesting tale, that is artfully created in a way that leaves you pondering the subject matter at its core. This big hot mess never came even remotely close to doing that.

While perhaps not a cinematic masterpiece, Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation is one of the most brutal anti-capitalist films I've ever seen. It's an uncompromising take-down of the American fast food industry, following multiple narrative threads from the top to the bottom of a fictional (but all too real) restaurant chain. It exposes the exploitation of migrant and teenage labor, the chemical manipulation of ingredients, the cover-up of contaminated products, as well as unsafe working conditions, sexual assault in the workplace, and perhaps most powerfully, the torture of animals in slaughterhouses. This is a film that forces us to examine the way corporations allow nothing to stand in the way of the profits made on the backs of exploited labor and the rape of the environment.

This film is good on certain levels, but, well, not necessarily bad, but just iffy on others.For instance, I love the scenes that illustrate Greg Kinnear's character's position. It shows how people in fast food corporations are less worried about your health and more worried about making money. But this poses the question: Is it entirely the fast food corporation's fault? I mean, most people know that MacDonald's and Burger King and many other burger joints are generally bad for them. But they choose them because they like the food.The mistreatment of illegals is another issue that should be talked about and the film treats generally well. I love Wilmer Valderama's performance in the film.Probably the best part of this movie is where the group of young revolutionaries try to free the cows but the cows will not go. It shows how people's ideology often times clouds the facts, which in this case is that cows are not smart and do not know the difference between a slaughterhouse and a free environment. But Fast Food Nation contradicts itself in this scene. The entire movie is advocating a vegetarian/animal rights message, at least to me it is. Yet, it shows that animals don't know the difference between death and just another day, and they don't care.I absolutely hated the scene at the end where Richard Linklater shows the cows being skinned and chopped up. I promise it isn't because of the graphic nature of the scene, I honestly don't hate the scene for that. I hate it because Richard Linklater is doing what so many preachers of all religions do: He's trying to make you feel bad for eating meat by showing the "mistreatment" of the cows. He doesn't just use the movie to give his opinion, he tries to force his opinion on you, and I take issue with that.But other than the end scene and some of the film's contradictions I would say it's worth a watch, especially if you would like to see strong performances from Wilmer Valderama, Greg Kinnear, and most of the other members of the cast.

Another reviewer said that the makers of this movie have lost a valuable opportunity. I completely agree with that opinion. This film is a disaster. The movie touches on important subjects in today's society (exploitation of Mexican immigrants, abusive US corporate power, the brutality of the meat industry, grass-root activism etc) but unfortunately it presents them in a shallow and dull way. The dialogues go nowhere and the events unfold with little sense of direction. The film doesn't even provide basic facts or data on the issues mentioned above. It's fiction that just doesn't bite. If you haven't seen this movie, I strongly suggest to avoid wasting 2 hours of your life on it. If you want to learn the facts of the fast food industry, you won't find any here.