Presumably inspired and incensed by the likes of Super Size Me, director Linklater has stepped away from his slacker notoriety to take on junk-food. Adapting Eric Schlosser’s best-selling critique of the fast-food industry, he expands the theme to include capitalism, globalisation and the American Way Of Life. Big ideas tackled on a big canvas.

He starts with a successful ad-man who discovers there is ‘shit in the meat’ of his company’s most popular product. As the story winds its way south to embrace packing malpractice, illegal immigrants, eco-activists and board-room shenanigans, Linklater forces confrontation with the characters and their plight. Long before carnage on the slaughterhouse floor, there’s a good chance he’ll turn you off burgers, if not dinner, for some time to come. Established with a light, comic touch, the film tackles its subject with gusto. There’s a sparkle in the director’s eye as the stories slowly, pleasingly and methodically merge. What’s lacking is a satirical bite.

Good intentions notwithstanding, and the film is overflowing with them, Linklater begins to hammer his message with such force that it drowns in a sea of preachy condescension. Worst offender is Ethan Hawke whose seat-bouncing enthusiasm for the project manifests an unbelievable and overwhelming performance. By comparison, the sloganeering college students stand mature. A ferocious Bruce Willis as the company’s cynical henchman – “Don’t be scared of the shit. Just cook it!” – can’t salvage matters, no more than Kinnear whose sudden reappearance at film’s end heightens the lumpy stew this meal has become. While the truth may be hard to swallow, so too is Fast Food Nation.

// COLIN FRASER