Fed Up

Fed Up is a glossy package that gets its warnings across loud and clear: we need to change what we eat.

Some lessons are overfamiliar (almonds good, corn syrup bad), but the section on corporate influence over school lunches is enough to make you spit out that 20-ounce soda from the concession stand.

Even our First Lady isn’t safe from this documentary. Fed Up contends that Michelle Obama’s fight against childhood obesity and her Let’s Move campaign have been co-opted by the food industry. Ever notice how no one ever talks anymore about her vegetable garden on the White House lawn and its consequent argument for the consumption of freshly prepared foods over the processed varieties?

And that's Fed Up's ultimate, if not fatal, weakness: The movie seems to acquit consumers of any culpability in our health crisis.

Fed Up isn’t so much a warning to the ignorant shopper or a tip for the unimaginative chef as it is a rallying cry. It succeeds in firing up the choir. Whether it will convert the complacent is an open question.

A formulaic and functional documentary that nevertheless proves effective at getting the message out about America’s addiction to unhealthy food.

Despite the film’s worthy goals, there are some empty calories. Katie Couric’s narration and Soechtig’s uninspired style make it feel more like a TV special than a feature documentary.

A great overview on the basics. Those interested in delving deeper into the history and research should access the many lectures given by Taubes and Lustig for free on Youtube. If you've already studied this issue you'll probably find Fed Up to be a bit basic, however it's still compelling. It puts a face on the devastation. Very young and desperately unhappy faces. It's heart wrenching when a child is obese because the parents swallow the hype of Lean Hot Pockets and breakfast cereal and worse, they can't afford to feed their children better than they are anyway. The one quibble I have with Fed Up is the claim that healthy food is just as cheap or cheaper than unhealthy food. Simply not true. If you go to the grocery store with $20 for a week you won't be buying fresh meat and produce. You'll be buying bread, Mac and Cheese, and sweets. The comparison Fed Up made was between restaurant food and grocery store food. The real comparison needs to be made between grocery store meat and produce and grocery store processed food.

This was a good, if somewhat sad documentary - it was tough to see those kids struggling to lose weight, really wanting to but not being able to for some reason. The documentary takes aim at the American sugar and processed food corporations and blames them for our obesity epidemic - but it still left me hungry for more. I am not sure I agree with their claim that sugar is the culprit - I strongly suspect that Americans' passion for cheap, low quality meat and large quantities of carbohydrates other than sugar should share in the blame. Every fat person I've known was usually wolfing down cheeseburgers and digging in to big plates of barbecue in addition to tackling big gulp sodas, budget-priced pies, ice creams, bags of chips, sugary cereals, cheezy pizzas, beers, et cetera. Hey, America - eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains! It is worth the effort - it is better for you, better for your kids, and better for the planet.

The largest health issue in the world today is obesity, primarily due to sugar and the big business that shamelessly sells it. As a film, this is standard doc fare: lots of expert interviews, snappy graphics, media footage (much of it horribly grainy) and real people whose stories make it personal. This one actually hammers home its message too often, which drags the pace and becomes frustrating. So many documentaries are full of righteous outrage and shocking statistics. It's a shame that the intended audiences will probably never benefit from it's message.

This movie is good I really like it then I saw the last 20 minutes of the movie. I hate when movies try to put fear to make you scared so that hopefully you buy there massage. It has good indentions and I can see why it got good reviews but the last 20 minutes are unwatchable garbage. The movie was making good points until it turned into an after school special.

Journalists that can't be bothered to stay up-to-date on scientific publications and instead hyper-focus on their pet subject of bureaucracy and corporations which make deals to deceive the citizenry which can't be bothered to stay up-to-date on scientific publications and instead hyper-focus on their pet subject of bureaucracy and corporations produced this oversimplification of the science and subsequent oversimplification of blame on the food industry. There is nothing here that you haven't already heard before: prepackaged and processed foods contain tons of sugar, no one knows anything about nutrition or endocrinology, people can't control themselves so we need public health legislation, etc. I give it 1 additional point for decent editing, although the narrative is all over the place and pretty overdone.