Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead 2

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead 2 (2014)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Sequel to the 2010 mega-hit has Joe Cross returning to educate people on what has happened since the previous film. We learn that he went through some financial and relationship drama, which caused him to gain some of his weight back and this starts the new journey.

FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD 2 isn't quite as good as the original film but I think it's a worthy follow-up. Whereas the first film showed us how much weight could be lost due to juicing, this sequel pretty much tells us that it's impossible to juice every single day and stay 100% healthy the rest of our lives. This documentary tries to help people for the long haul and not just for a quick, sixty-day period. The film proves that most people can juice for a week but after that it becomes a lot harder as there are just so many foods out there and of course personal drama that might cause humans to seek food as relief.

For the most part I thought this was an entertaining film and like the first it's mainly here to try and educate people as well as teach them that there is support out there if they're needing it. The most interesting aspect comes from visiting with Phil, the truck driver from the first film who fell on hard times and ended up gaining most of his weight back. Technically speaking there's nothing too great about this picture but fans of the first will still want to check it out.

Fat Sick and Nearly Dead 2 starts off with its main actor Joe Cross, an Australian wellness guru. He takes us on his continuation of his journey of juice fasting. This documentary is directed by Kurt Engefr who also directed a controversial film Fahrenheit 9/11 and the first Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. To juice fast or not to juice fast is the question, well the question I ask myself watching this movie. I mean is it really worth it? Do I make enough money and do I have the will power? Well Joe cross seems to think anyone and everyone can do it. He goes around the world preaching to people who are willing to listen about juice fasting and how it changed his sickly world. He gives you a dumbed down reason on how processed foods are bad for you. Don't we all know that processed food is bad for you? When I think of juice fasting the first thing that comes to mind is hunger. Am I going to starve? Joe believes that it's all mental that you can do it. He has some will power to try this for 60 days. Yes, ladies and gentleman you read right 60 days, breakfast lunch and dinner. I am sure that everyone will have their own results but juicing can be beneficial. Benefits of juicing according to rawjuiceguru.com is: boost of energy, weight loss, detoxing of your cell and improve digestion. Sounds amazing right. So why knock it down before you try it? Now, this documentary seems familiar to Cowspiracy, a documentary exposing the meat industry and basically a "you should be vegan" film. Don't get me wrong Cowspiracy opened my eyes to the horrendous things "we" as humans do to poor innocent animals, but before we go to that extreme why not replace a healthy green juice for a meal. If a little boy with arthritis, who by the way is in this documentary, who is on multiple medications can do it, we as adults can do it too. Joe Cross follows up with the people he started this journey with and sees how everyone is human. I say human because we are not perfect. Joe Cross 4 years after the first movie has dealt with stress and relationship issues that have caused him to gain some of his weight back. Similarly so has one of the other men that did the juice fast journey with Joe. That man got married to the wrong person, had his stress and gained all of his starting weight back. So, is juicing effective? I believe it is to an extent. I agree with this film that we do need to be more organic and treat our bodies well. If you can do 60 days of juice fasting be my guest but be prepared to maintain the weight you will lose because juicing is just the beginning of a long journey. All in all I say this is a good informative documentary. Anyone can juice fast if you have some extra money lying around. Fresh produce can get very expensive but, isn't going to the doctor with an illness even more expensive. Spend some money on your health and you will forever reap the benefits. If you are not into health or hearing about health than this movie is not for you. But, if you like all the health "junk" be prepared to sit in on your couch for more than one hour plus, because this documentary is a very long documentary.

In part one, Australian financier and juice-pusher Joe Cross documented himself dropping pounds and helping tubby truck driver Phil avoid an early coronary by encouraging people to consume only juiced vegetables. Some years have gone by and things haven't gone that well for Joe who reveals there is another 20 pounds of him after break-ups both romantic and financial. However, he's still juicin' (although he admits 30% of his calories come from the "processed" category). And he now has a worldwide (including the one person in Africa whom we meet) network of juiceheads to back him up. Unfortunately, they all want to ask about Phil, (who plays the John-the-Baptist role to Joe) and Joe is forced to say in one scene: "Everyone asks about Phil and, you know, this doesn't always work for everyone". To give you the short version moving to Detroit was the least of Phil's bad decisions in the intervening years between documentaries. Anyway, the actual documentary presents a combination of a sadder and lonelier Joe looking for juice in cities he can't remember landing in, some low budget animation and brief man-on-the-street interviews about people thinking about drinking juice. A couple of boring experts are also thrown in. Kudos to Joe to tempering his message this time and pointing out that good health is actually a pretty simple affair. In short, not really enough here to warrant a straight-to-video release.

In the first movie our heroes recognized the danger and made a great victory against the forces of fatness, but this time they learn the fatness forces and it's allies are much bigger and vaster then they expected. They receive some hard blows and while they managed to achieve some victories blows left them still heavily bruised, restrained and ashamed from the battles and vastness of unexpected evil. And indeed Joe is visiting back some of the battlegrounds, Phil is left "frozen in the fatness" waiting for his princess Leia. We can all assume they are recuperating for the big last battle. So I can expect that the third movie will be named "Fat Sick & Nearly Dead 3: The Return of the Juicer"?

That is true for the man in question here but also about me. I have not seen the first one yet, but I don't feel I have to, judging from what I saw here. And while this can act quite inspirational, it may also sway others to be annoyed by how obesity and health is handled here. I think it's quite clever and fresh and he also does not take himself too seriously.

Something you gotta give him credit for. He also points out the crazy thing about food, where one day something is considered unhealthy, the next day it is the thing to add to your diet plan. So while it tries to defuse rather than confuse you, (simplifying a lot of things, in a good way) and it does explain certain things. If this doesn't help you or acts as a motivation, I doubt there will be a documentary that will be able to do so ...