stephenhow

The film doesn't teach us much more than we already know. Deep down, we all know what we should eat, but we're not given much of a chance in the commercial food environment. The film could have done a better job finding a positive message, and showing how cooking would solve a lot of problems in this country. And while they do deliver the most important message of the film, "personal responsibility doesn't work in the face of addiction", it's lost under a bad, scattered narrative.

The first third of the film quotes David Lustig ("sugar is bad") and Gary Taubes ("carbs are bad"), and seems to want to absolve the obese public of their guilt in the matter, and demonize certain food types.

Then there's a lot of footage of kids and their parents, all with junk food problems, which sounds like a lot of excuses. They also seem to blame George McGovern's 1977 dietary recommendations (always the punching bag; just like his '72 humiliating loss to Nixon).

The movie wants to say these people are addicted pawns of the food industry, and their hyper-palatable products, which is true. They all sound like heroin addicts, manipulating you, telling you it's not their fault, and how they're going to clean up their lives. But then they're out again looking for their next fix.

The movie doesn't compare well to the standard "Forks Over Knives". That movie presented a positive message, and a solution (eat real, whole foods, that make you feel better, and breaks the Pleasure Trap of food addiction). Fed Up calls for government regulation, akin to the tobacco industry, with warning labels, taxes, tort liabilities, and the like. It might work, like WWII rationing improved health in Europe, but it'll be a big fight. There's a simpler solution: cook whole foods, break the addiction. It's what we'll all have to do anyways.

From the opening credits, this movie made me cringe at almost every scene. The movie centers around a racial incident on the campus of a fictional small rural Vermont college. Of course the college stands in as a symbol of a majority White community, and the racial incident unavoidably escalates into a small media frenzy. Thus the stage is set for all the players to act and reveal their views on the issue of race. Of course the viewer immediately sees through the "characters", and starts interpreting the views of the writers and producers themselves. That's the whole issue about race: people are very aware of the differences between their views and other people's views about it. So, as the story unfolds and more and more stereotypes about race and stereotypical reactions to race are paraded out, I asked myself, who does this movie serve? Who does this movie not offend? It was obvious the script tries to represent both sides of the fence, in an "equal-time" manner. Amazingly enough, they even voiced the politically incorrect side, in a qualified way. Everyone in the movie is a caricature of their race. Largely, though not entirely predictable as you watch it, it still fits the stereotype of how race is allowed to be discussed in film. But ultimately, outside any moral of "racism is inevitable", or "racism is bad", the film makes no point itself. Sure, it might succeed on the level about getting "people to talk about race", but as the movie shows, why is that such a great idea?

This movie is only interesting as a curiosity piece, if you've ever wondered what an 80's labotomized version of the sad and meaningful Walter Tevis novel would look like. Start by replacing Bowie's Thin White Duke with a Tom Hanks Busom Buddy knock-off, and throw in Beverly D'Angelo and Wesley Crusher as her troubled, but deep-down loving son. Don't bother coming up with any believable visual style for the movie, just re-use some of the old Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century sets off the studio backlot Finally, but most importantly, replace the actual theme of the book (how the Visitor falls to human faults and shortcomings) with positive pap about restoring the Beverly D'Angelo and Wil Wheaton relationship. I'm almost certain this movie was shot as a pilot for a TV series, where the Visitor brings his son back to Earth, and every week, they learn how troubled and illogical, yet ultimately redeeming mankind is. Kind of like My Favorite Martian, but a little more serious, like The Great American Hero. This would have been classic shlock had it been picked up.